


What Lies Beyond The Tides

by LocalAquatic



Category: Kingdom Hearts, The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: F/M, Gay Romance, Gay male characters, Kingdom Hearts Based Parody, Love, M/M, Male/Male Pairings, Parody, Retelling, Romance, The little mermaid - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-10 18:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8928469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LocalAquatic/pseuds/LocalAquatic
Summary: Longing to be a human after falling in love with a prince, Ariel turns to Ursula for help, and Sora's going along with her, his own goals set from him. Who knew there'd be something for both of them up there? A retelling of The Little Mermaid with KH characters in the mix (so...basically AU-ish).





	1. Finding A New Treasure

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a whopping multi-chapter for ya! Hope you enjoy it, and stick around til the end!

Ah, what a beautiful day for a concert.

Indeed it was. The underwater kingdom of Atlantica couldn't have looked more thrilled to finally hear King Triton's seventh and youngest daughter Ariel perform before them. All neighboring kingdoms were invited to attend that day, one royal family in attendance being the Strifes, a particular favorite of the King's.

Unfortunately, the King and Queen of the kingdom were unable to attend due to other important matters to attend to, but nonetheless, their children had come anyway. The oldest was Cloud, a fine, yet introverted gentleman. Followed by him were the youngest: twins Ventus and Roxas, both rather lean young men and blonde hair and blue eyes. The middle child, Sora, had already gotten acquainted with the king's daughters, and was presumably with them.

"Why'd we have to come?" Ventus whined to Cloud.

"It's not like this is the first concert in Ariel's name!" Roxas added.

"Yes, but our families are on good terms with one another." Cloud scolded the two, "We should not try to ruin this relationship between our kingdoms. It has lasted for generations, and many more to come, we hope. You got that?"

"Yes, Cloud," the twins sighed.

"Good.

"And here come the Strife children!" came an announcer; a small seahorse that was orange in color. The three were met with admiring stares from the merfolk, and this continued until they had gotten in the concert hall, and made their way to one of the higher areas.

"Your Highness." Cloud bowed as he suddenly found the King. He then shifted his head in the twins' direction, as they got the message and bowed as well.

"Cloud," King Triton returned the greeting, "Roxas. Ventus." He then looked around, as if looking for someone else, "Are your parents elsewhere?"

"They have stayed behind to attend to some rather important matters, Your Highness. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," Triton said sincerely, "And is Sora with them as well?"

"No, Your Highness. Sora is off bonding with your daughters. Your youngest, to be exact."

"Oh, he's found his way to Ariel, has he?"

"It would appear so."

King Triton smiled, "Well, he should be with you now. Ariel is expected to perform in a few minutes."

"Of course, King Triton. Should I go an collect him?" Cloud asked.

The King nodded, "Please do." And with that he swam off to his own seat.

Cloud turned back to Ventus and Roxas, "I will just be gone for a moment. Stay there!"

"Where else are we supposed to go?" Roxas huffed, "It's not like we know where we're going."

"Whatever." Cloud sighed dismissively as he made his way.

* * *

"Sebastian, does this look a little off?"

It was sure hard to deal with teenagers.

Sebastian had been so nervous for the concert, and in all honesty, still was. He'd been preparing for this concert for _years,_ only for Ariel so go off and do something or other, or for her to just rebut and run away for a while. Why, she'd never even attend any of the rehearsals! If he wasn't as sure Ariel had the most beautiful voice all of the daughters, Sebastian would've been infuriated. The King had been oh so patient through all of this (despite of course when he would be angered by Ariel's insolence), allowing Sebastian to have another concert in order to finally hear what he had worked so hard for.

"No, it's look fine, sweetie!" he said to Alana, who was fussing around with a crown on her head.

"Hey, Sebastian, do I go before or after Attina?" Adella asked, with Attina next to her.

"After."

"Told you." Attina smirked, causing her sister to frown.

"OK, OK, everyone! Places, places!" Sebastian ordered, as the mermaids stopped what they were doing and came together before him. They looked around the room and seemed to be giggling at something, but the crab paid no attention to it, "Everyone in de kingdom has come to see what you can do, OK? So let's give 'em the best ye got, mon!"

As he started to move backwards, Sebastian eventually came in contact with flesh. He turned around, startled, finding out to have bumped into Cloud's chest.

"Hey there Sebastian." The teen greeted.

"What're you doin' here?" Sebastian asked demandingly, "We're not ready for de show yet!"

"Oh, no, I just came by to get Sora…"

"Sora?" Attina repeated, "We haven't seen him around here." The other sisters also shook their heads.

"But isn't he with Ariel?" Cloud asked.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Ariel either…"

"Neither have we," Aquata nodded along with the others, except for Sebastian, who looked absolutely petrified.

"Ariel's not here?!" The crab asked worryingly, almost fuming, "But the show-and we've only got-"

"She's probably just out and about again," Arista shrugged, "No doubt she brought that Sora boy along with her."

"Do you have ANY idea where they might be, then?" Cloud asked, his own concerns rising.

"Not a clue, no," Andrina shook her head.

"Dis is terrible!" Sebastian wallowed, "No concert! Again!"

"I guess I'll give the King the news." Cloud sighed as he made his way to the King, gulping.

* * *

"WHAT?!" King Triton fumed as he clenched his Trident firmly.

"Dat's right Your Majesty," Sebastian, who'd insisted on joining Cloud, said, "Ariel's n-not here…and we don't know what…"

"And Sora's probably with her…" Cloud added, though it perhaps added little to the table.

"Why, she KNEW how important this was!" Triton began, "And yet she STILL thinks it's nothing more than a joke, as she still just goes off somewhere else!"

"Should we go find her, Your Majesty?" Cloud asked.

"And what'll we do about de concert!?" Sebastian asked frantically.

The King pondered this, and eventually came to his conclusion: "No, no. Ariel will come back soon enough. Let's just proceed with the performance and have the others make up for her absence,"

"But Your Majest-"

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" the King yelled at the crustacean, who swam away in fear.

"Are you alright, Your Highness."

"Not particularly," King Triton scowled, "I just don't know what I'll do with her one of these days…"

* * *

"Ariel, we really shouldn't be here…"

"C'mon, Sora! Don't be such a guppy!"

Sora shivered where he swam as he made his way to Ariel, who was approaching a sunken ship in hopes of finding something from the human world. Of course, she had to explore on the day of the concert; the one especially put together in her honor. But, then again, Ariel wasn't one to exactly wish to follow her father's orders, and Sora could understand where her heart was. Plus, Sora was initially all in favor of exploring in the first place…he was just getting really, really scared.

"A-Ariel?" Flounder, their friend, gasped out as followed closely behind Sora, tucked away behind a few of the teen's spikes, "Can we leave now?"

"No." Ariel brushed off as she came close to a porthole; their way into the ship, "We've only just got here, silly!"

She easily swam through the porthole, and Sora also made his way through. However, Flounder was not as lucky, as the fish was too obtuse to fit through.

"Guys!" he called out, just as they nearly swam further into the ship, "A little help?"

"Sure thing!" Sora swam back over and took ahold of Flounder's fins, pulling him in with all his strength. The porthole eventually gave way and released the fish, sending them both back slightly.

"Come on, guys! There must be something here!" Ariel said aloud to them as she swam around, looking at every nook and cranny.

Sora went about the ship in a similar manner, but sighed, as he saw Flounder firmly clasped to his hips, shivering away. He looked into the fish's blue eyes and saw he was still fearful of the place. He would have done something about it, but he simply huffed and continued his quest to discover. It wasn't like he was hurting him or anything.

"This looks interesting." Sora mused to Ariel, as he spotted a sliver object floating in a corner. This was nothing like he ever saw before! It has four sharp ends, similar to the King's trident, and was glowing in the otherwise dull area it was in.

"Let's have a look!" Ariel got excited as she swam over to the object. She picked it up and gave it a careful examination. It did look interesting. "It's so shiny…"

"It sure is…" Flounder nodded as he let go of Sora and gingerly approached the artifact.

"What do you think it is?" Sora asked, swimming close to get a better look.

Ariel shrugged, "Haven't a clue." She then placed it in the pink bag strewn across her chest, "Let's show this to Scuttle."

"Good idea." Scuttle was one of their friends who had contact with the surface world (in fact, he was the ONLY friend they had in contact with the human world) as he was a bird. A seagull, to be exact. Nonetheless, he seemed to have a knack at knowing the things humans possessed. Why, just last week, they'd found a funnily-shaped object, and he'd told them it was something called a "snarfblatt", used by humans to play music.

"Hmm…wonder what else we could find," Ariel pondered, and went on exploring.

"But Ariel," Flounder whined in defense, "We've found something already. Couldn't we just-" There was a sudden loud creak, causing the fish to shy away from continuing.

"Uh, yeah…Ariel…" Sora agreed, "To be honest I wouldn't mind going back now. I mean, it's not like I'm scared or anything, but I am scared of what might happen if we're late to the-" But her was also interrupted by another creak, sending chills down his spine as well, and Flounder cowering inside of Ariel's hair.

"What was that?" Ariel asked as a third creak was heard. She then shooed Flounder out of her hair, and shrugged once the creak had ceased, "Eh, it was probably just something moving about. Nothing to be afraid of." She swam over to a nearby chest, in hopes of finding something else.

Flounder stayed put as Sora shrugged in his direction and proceeded to follow the mermaid. Suddenly, Flounder began to notice a large shadow eclipsing him. But the fish still stayed in place, fearful he'd surely die if he dared move, "Ariel…S-Sora…"

Ariel sighed, exasperatedly, "Flounder, for the last time, there's nothing-" But as she turned around she saw a large colored fish swimming just behind Flounder. It had glowing yellow, and a matching light spiraling above its head, similar to an angler-fish, "Oh, holy-"

"It's an Aquatank! We've gotta move!" Sora exclaimed as the three swam as far away from the Aquatank as possible. It was hot on their tails, only a few inches away. However, the mermaid, merman, and fish managed to gain the upper hand once they had turned a corner within the ship, as the large glowing fish failed to notice, hitting the wall in front of it. It persevered, though, and chased after them again.

The journey around this side of the boat was quite a hassle, for there was spikes poking out of most of the walls. The trio swiftly managed to make their way through without any injuries, but Ariel was then halted as she caught herself on one of the spikes. She used all her strength to push herself away, and in doing so her bag remained on the spike. She stayed there, contemplating on whether or not to grab it.

"Ariel, no!" Sora hissed as he turned around, squealing as he saw the Aquatank getting closer.

Ariel ignored him, deciding to retrieve the bag. After all, it would make this wild chase worth it. Luckily, she made it just before the Aquatank could catch her in its teeth.

"We need to seriously get out of here!" Sora cried, as they approached a porthole. Remembering what happened before, Sora shoved Flounder to the front, and pushed him through the small exit, with Ariel in turn assisting him in doing so. Soon, the mermaid and merman made their way through and started to swim away from the boat. However, the Aquatank had managed to break though the ship, and, angered, swam towards them at an alarmingly fast speed.

"It's catching up to us!" Ariel cried as they continued to swim upward.

Sora then caught sight of a sunken anchor below, with a fairly large hole in the top. Probably about the size of the Aquatank. "Not for long!" And with that, Sora descended towards the anchor, "Hey, bad boy! Follow this!" He gave the large fish a taunting wave of his fins, and began to swim faster.

"Sora, what…" Ariel asked, before silencing herself. No way she was going to have the shark come back and eat them all.

"I got it!" Sora shouted back, and swam through the hole. The Aquatank, being simple-minded, proceeded to do the same, only to be stuck there once half of it got through. It squirmed, hoping to come loose, but to no avail.

"That was pretty cool, Sora," Ariel congratulated as she and Flounder swam to him.

"Weren't nothin'!" Sora smiled.

"Say, why don't we go see Scuttle now?" Flounder suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Ariel agreed, as she swam upward again, with Sora following her.

Flounder looked back at the Aquatank and blew a raspberry at it. In response, the Aquatank snarled and snapped its jaw just inches away. Flounder retracted his tongue and swam away to join the others.


	2. Finding Angry Guardians

Scuttle was a simple-minded bird, just fiddling with a telescope while perched up in his nest atop a pile of debris on an extremely small and excluded piece of land. Various human things were scattered around the ground, most likely since there was nowhere to put anything. The seagull suddenly heard a noise from the water, and turned in its direction as he put the (wrong side of the) telescope to his eye and looked through it.

"Merfolks be approachin'!" Scuttle mused to himself as he saw distant figures of Sora and Ariel, along with Flounder floating close to them. But as he lowered the telescope from his eye, he found that he was face to face with Sora, who giggled with Ariel in response to seeing the seagull up to his usual antics, "You guys are sure fast, you know!"

"Heya, Scuttle!" Ariel greeted as she took off her bag and placed it on the surface in front of her, "Look what we found!"

Scuttle flew straight to perch himself in front of the mermaid as he took out the artifact from the bag and examined it, "It looks like you've found yourself something really special!" he cried with excitement on his face.

"Why, what is it?" Sora asked, hyper-actively.

"Why, it's a dinglehopper!" The seagull explained, as he brought the artifact…erm, dinglehopper...to the top of his head and started twirling it amongst his feathers.

"What's it do?" Flounder asked, as he skeptically watched Scuttle twist the dinglehopper.

"Humans use these little babies…" Scuttle paused as he took out the dinglehopper, causing his hair to puff upward in response, "…to straighten their hair out!"

"Really?" Sora asked, with doubt. Underwater, they had brushes for that specific purpose. Why wouldn't a human think to do that as well? Huh, maybe they just liked to approach things differently.

"They sure do!" Scuttle said as he pushed his beak against Sora's nose, to indicate how serious he was. He then quickly pulled back and continued, "And you've got yourself a shiny one, too! Must've been a real find down there!"

"You have NO idea…" Sora hummed as he turned to Ariel, who gave him a chuckle in response and stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Yeah!" Flounder chimed in, "There was this shark, and-and Sora managed to stop it by-"

"C'mon Flounder, we don't need to bore Scuttle with that story…" Sora brushed off, but still kept a prideful expression plastered on his face.

"Oh, no, go ahead!" Scuttle said as he moved his wing to encourage the fish to continue, "It's all music to my ears!"

"Music…?" Ariel suddenly asked aloud, as her concert finally hit her on the head, "Oh, my gosh, the concert, I'm gonna so late-and oh, Daddy's gonna _kill_ me!" The mermaid then gave Scuttle a quick appreciative wave, "Thank you Scuttle, for your help! Goodbye!" She quickly grabbed her dinglehopper and shoved it in her bag, before placing it around her and diving back underwater, with Sora and Flounder close behind.

"Anytime, sweetie!" The seagull cried after her, but she was long gone.

Back underwater, Sora turned to the mermaid with a sly grin, "You know, I _did_ tell you before…"

Ariel could only huff in response as she sped up. Oh, how she hoped the concert hadn't started yet!

"Hey, Ariel, wait up!"

* * *

Unbeknownst to the three, they were being watched by someone. Only, this someone wasn't there, per-say, but rather had their henchmen spying on them for her. Both mermen had a glowing yellow eye; the redheaded one in the left eye, and the brunette in the right eye. This in turn formed an image for their mistress back at her evil lair.

"That's it. Hurry home princess…" her deep, emasculating, yet feminine voice boomed from where she lay in the cave. She then pondered for a few moments, and smirked, "Axel, Terra, dears, do keep an eye on them both for me. I think I have another diversion in stall for them..."

"It's not with another Heartless, is it, Ursula?" Terra asked, "Because they managed to fool the Aquatank."

"Oh, no, let's not bother with that crap!" Axel smirked, "Why not just ambush them!"

"Don't stray away from the plot!" Ursula commanded, "They'll just fight their way out of that. Oh no, that's not how's we going to do things…"

"So, we're just gonna wait it out?" Axel asked skeptically, "Why?"

"A woman requires a moment or two to think," Ursula smirked to herself (not like their was anyone else where she was to smirk towards), "And we'll give the mermaid that chance, and soon she'll be coming to me. After all, she may be the key to Triton's undoing…"

* * *

"Perhaps we aren't too late!" Sora reassured the mermaid princess as they made their way in the concert hall through a back exit, "Who knows, maybe everyone will be patient this time!"

"I doubt it…" Flounder mused, "King Triton has one heck of a temper…"

"Nah, I'm sure he'll be fine!" Ariel waved off as she saw her sisters' empty vanities. They must've finished, then! Oh, sweet Poseidon! "Uh, guys…?"

"Yes?" Sora swam over, "Did you find anyone?"

"Well, no, but I'm guessing everyone's packed up."

Sora's heart began to beat rapidly in shock. Oh, if Cloud were here, he'd surely-

"Well, well, well!" A voice said from behind.

"Look who we found!" Another voice, which sounded almost similar, added.

Phew, it's not Cloud.

"Roxas? Ven?" Sora turned around to see his twin brothers staring at them with satisfaction, "What're you doing here?"

"Well, we excused ourselves from the palace by saying we'd search for you in the marketplace…" Ven began.

"But then Cloud insisted he'd best come along because he _seriously_ wanted to tell you off…" Roxas was interrupted by Sora, who punched in the shoulder, "And so he started chasing after us, but we've left tracks around the kingdom so hopefully he shouldn't find us for a long while."

"Doesn't sound like a good plan," Sora said doubtfully.

"Oh, relax, Sora, it'll soon bore him searching!" Roxas winked at them,

"Yeah," Ventus nodded, "He probably thinks we've gone back to the palace anyway!"

"How'd Daddy take the news?" Ariel asked.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" a deeper voice asked. A merman figure revealed itself from behind one of the walls, revealing himself to be Cloud. Sora and the twins looked at him with fright as Ariel and Flounder simply stared on cautiously, "Come on, Ariel, let's get you back to your father. He really needs to have a word with you." Cloud then sharply turned towards the two boys, "And as for you three…I'll deal with you as well!"

"You aren't the boss of us!" Ventus retorted.

"I am when it's just the four of us."

Sora was about to object, but came to realize that his brother was indeed right, and so retracted his thoughts. The twins were the first to swim with Cloud, with Ariel, Sora and Flounder following suit.

"Oh, Daddy's gonna be so mad…" Ariel whispered to Sora.

* * *

"What ever will I do with you, Ariel?"

The King was indeed furious. Triton sat at his throne with his trident firmly planted in his right hand. It swished swiftly with every gesture he made, and as they seemed to get faster, the prongs were looking ever so menacing. Sebastian was also around, perched on one of the arms of the throne. The Strifes were also allowed to stay around as they watched a family friend of their yell at his daughter, but of course, they were used to this kind of thing; not only from their frequent visits to the kingdom, but also because their parents also yelled at them a lot for causing trouble.

"Look, Daddy, please, I didn't mean to forget, I-" Ariel attempted to excuse herself, only to be cut off by her father.

"The entire kingdom, Ariel!" Triton boomed, "The entire kingdom was let down, and the entire celebration was in _shambles_ due to your careless behavior!"

"Careless and reckless behavior!" Sebastian added with as much anger he could conjure, and swam closer to Ariel, "Dat concert was gonna showcase my distinguished career, but now it's all ruined! Now, I'm the laughing stock of the kingdom thanks to you!"

"Hey, cool it Sebastian…" Sora objected as he swam to Ariel's side, appearing to challenge the crustacean, "It wasn't her fault, OK?"

"Sora…" Cloud hissed, "Get back here…" The older teen's anger was only further stirred when he found that his brother wasn't listening. He stayed put, not daring to interfere himself as the twins watched on in shock and curiosity.

"Are you saying you're to blame for this?" Triton channeled his frustration to the young merman.

"Daddy…" Ariel huffed disapprovingly as she crossed her arms.

"No he's not!" Flounder, who had been cowering in Ariel's hair and only just emerged from it, countered, "There was this big shark thing, a-and then we…and then we just…and then…but then Sora stopped it and we were safe, but then this seagull came by, and said that this thing we had was something or other, and-"

"Seagull?" Triton stared off in the distance before meeting with Ariel's innocent blue eyes, "Oh, Ariel, you've been going up to see the surface, haven't you?" He asked, pointing his trident at her. He wouldn't dare do anything bad to her, but her was so incredibly angry at her, and also, it wasn't like it was that close to her anyway.

"Not that far! Nothing happened!" Ariel shrugged.

"Ariel, I keep telling you again and again," Triton began, "You could've been taken by one of those infernal humans that lurk around up above – those…those… _barbarians_!"

"They're not barbarians, Daddy!" Ariel countered, "And I will prove that to you!"

"You never will!" Triton firmly exclaimed, "As long as you live in my kingdom, you will follow my orders, young lady." He got up from his throne and approached his daughter, placing two fingers on his chin, "I do this because I love you. Do you think I want my youngest daughter swept away from me by some fish-eater?"

"To be fair, she's sixteen. Even as your youngest, she does deserve some freedom…" Sora weakly pointed out, only to be hushed by an angered stare of death coming from the king.

Ariel got her father's attention and turned to him in anger, "Daddy, if you'd just give them a chance-"

"Not another word about the human world, Ariel." Triton dismissed, "Is that clear?!" He looked on as his daughter swam out of the throne-room, breaking down into tears as she proceeded to make her exit.

"Ariel…" Sora followed Ariel's path, knowing that she needed some comfort, and Flounder also trailed along after the merman.

"Oh, my…" King Triton sighed as he sat back down on his throne, putting a hand to his head, "I always hate yelling at that child…do you think I was too hard on her?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty." Cloud shook his head, only for the twins to roll their eyes. Of course he'd say that… "You had every right to be mad."

"Teenagers," Sebastian mused in disgust, "They think they know everything…"

"Hey, there are teenagers in the room, you know!" Roxas objected, before Ventus kept him restrained.

"Why, if Ariel was my daughter, I'd show her who was in charge around here!" The crustacean rambled on, "None of dis human nonsense would be a thing, I tell ya, mon!"

"I suppose you're right, Sebastian." Triton nodded as the crab took the opportunity to grin in triumph. Of course he was right. Why wouldn't he be? "Ariel needs to be constantly supervised."

"She sure does, You Majesty!" Sebastian nodded.

"And _you_ are just the crab to do it!" The crab found one of the King's fingers prodding at his shell, at which he recoiled at in discomfort.

Sebastian was left dumbfounded, at a loss for words, "Uh…what now, You Majesty?"

As Roxas and Ventus trying to hide their laughter, and Cloud simply hovering in place, King Triton smiled, "You heard me. You can supervise Ariel to make sure she stays away from the human world."

"Yes, Your Majesty…" Sebastian reluctantly complied. He was going to object, but he'd seen the King's anger twice today, so he'd rather not make him angry a third time. And with that, he made his way out of the throne-room, out to find Ariel.

"This I gotta see!" Ventus smirked as Roxas nodded. They exchanged glances with Cloud, who sighed and nodded his head. They then swam out to follow Sebastian, chattering away about what might happen even though the crab was only just in front of them.

Sebastian could have sworn he heard the King chuckling in the distance, huffing in response. Why'd he get stuck with the icky jobs?


	3. Wanting To Be Where The People Are

"Sebastian, do you have any idea where we're going?" Ventus huffed as the three were swimming along a fairly quiet part of the kingdom, rather secluded but surrounded by wonderfully charming sea flora. The three had been on the lookout for Ariel and Sora for what felt like hours, and Ven could almost have sworn Sebastian was deliberately not looking for Ariel.

"I know where we are, mon!" Sebastian raised his voice defensively from where he was perched on Roxas' shoulder, acting as a guide for the twins.

"Are you sure?" Roxas questioned, "We've been out here for ages, now! Surely you saw where they went!"

"You kidding?" the crab laughed sarcastically as he wiggled his crab legs, "'dese small things don't let you move as fast as the merpeople! Especially when the merperson is Ariel!"

"Wait!" Ventus suddenly cried as he heard movement around them. "Hide!" he ran behind a nearby rock, with Roxas following him (and in turn, Sebastian being dragged along in a rush).

"What is it?" Sebastian asked, but he must have been a bit louder than he intended, as the twins hushed him and pushed him downward so they couldn't be seen.

Surely enough, the movement was coming from merpeople. As they came into view of the peering twins, they were revealed to be Sora and Ariel, along with Flounder, simply swimming around.

"So, uh…you gonna go back to your dad?" Sora asked the mermaid.

Ariel sighed, "But I need to prove to him that humans aren't as bad as they seem! They're just as good people as you or me!"

"Will it be enough for him, though?" Sora asked, "Also, I heard that humans were kinda were the reason why…erm…" he trailed off before eventually deciding to cut himself off there.

"…yes, but that was years ago, and we've gotten over that." Ariel responded knowingly, "Now, they're ought to be worth at least a second chance to him!"

Sora awkwardly moved his tail fin while keeping up with the mermaid's pace, "But what is it about humans you like so much?"

Ariel stopped swimming and faced the teen, not uttering a single word. She looked around to make sure she was alone (the twins and Sebastian ducking their heads just in time), and came close to his ear, "Let me show you," she whispered, as she pulled back and started swimming in another direction.

"C'mon, Sora!" Flounder chimed, "You need to see it!" he wrapped as much of his fin as he could around Sora's arm and attempted to pull him in the direction but to no avail.

"OK, OK…" Sora sighed with a smile as he claimed his own arm back and began following Ariel, "What is 'it', anyway?"

Meanwhile, Ventus and Roxas saw this as an opportunity to follow the three, with Sebastian crying in shock as he was suddenly pulled away.

* * *

It had been quite a while now, and Sora was staring at a rather large rock formation Ariel had seemingly taken him to see. Sure, the structure was impressive, but it wasn't exactly special for any other reason than being the tallest thing in the area.

"Is this it?" the spiky-hair brunette asked.

"Not exactly," Ariel replied as she swam over to the side of a large boulder at the front of the cave, and proceeded to make an effort to push it away from whatever she wanted.

Sora was about to help the mermaid, given she looked as if she was struggling, but to his surprise she was actually fully capable of moving the rock herself, as it gave way and moved over a couple of meters. What the rock turned out to be blocking was a passage, and when the three made their way through, it seemed like quite a long-winded passage. One that practically went under the sea grounds for part of the journey, or at least, that's how it felt.

"How far have we got left?" Sora asked impatiently.

"We're nearly there!" Flounder answered, excitedly. Sora began to notice that the part of the passageway they were in was gradually lighting up a nice, shade of blue. One you'd often find around the lower parts of the kingdom.

"Here." Ariel announced as she stopped upon reaching the end.

Sora was slow to stopping, and bumped into the mermaid, before quickly gathering himself, "Why, where are we-?" Sora halted as he gazed at all of his surroundings. Why, it was a cavern! A cavern full of marvelous objects from the human world, it seemed! It was an impressive feat, standing very, very tall, with several shelves with numerous kinds of trinkets and gadgets galore. An emerging rock lay at the bottom of the cavern, right in front of them, and the very top was open, allowing for light to enter and shine upon everything in this wondrous place, creating an almost heavenly sight.

"Damn, this is impressive!" Sora exclaimed, as he felt his draw drop and pupils dilate. He swam over to an odd spherical object close by and touched it. It was attached to a strong metallic frame, and it seemed like the sphere wasn't, as it began to rotate slowly. The brunette retracted his hand, but did not take his attention away from the object, as the odd shapes on the sphere began moving in and out of view.

"It's all from the human world," Ariel began, as she started playing with some lovely human jewelry, the likes of which she had never seen in Atlantica, "From ships…random findings…all of it. We go out everyday and find something new to add to the collection!"

"This must've taken ages to put together."

"Only, like, a year or so," Ariel shrugged, turning back to everyone else, twiddling with the strap of her bag.

"How'd you keep this place a secret for that long?" Sora asked as he followed the mermaid as she took out the dinglehopper from her bag and placed it with care on one of the lower shelves, "I mean, surely, someone must know about this with such an opening," he gestured to the top of the cavern.

Ariel giggled, "I think you've forgotten that it's quite far from the kingdom. Not even Daddy would think of coming out here, as he's got no reason to."

"I guess that makes sense, I suppose," Sora smiled, shrugging as he swam leisurely around, examining everything there was within this magical place.

* * *

"There!"

Roxas was pointing at the entrance of the cavern. The three had taken the opportunity to hide behind a rock while Sora and Ariel were making their own way through, just so their cover wasn't blown immediately.

"Well, I ain't never seen dat before!" Sebastian huffed, emerging from the rock in front of them and swimming towards the entrance, "Come on!"

Ventus and Roxas obeyed the crab. Partially because they were interested in what was on the inside that Ariel was here for. Partially because they wanted to also hear Sebastian chew Sora out,. Mostly because they didn't know how willing Sebastian was to use his pincers to get his way.

The path was extremely long. Longer than Sebastian and the twins could have possibly imagined. On the bright side, at least they had stayed behind long enough for Ariel and Sora to get to wherever they were heading. Eventually, though, Sebastian and the twins found themselves at the entrance of a cavern.

"Oh, sweet they're here!" Ventus cried, as he caught a glimpse Sora and Ariel swimming around.

"And wow, this place is amazing!" Roxas added, before both blondes were hastily pinched by Sebastian, who pulled back on their hair to signal for them to get behind the entrance.

"Shh!" the crab hushed as he peered at everything inside the cavern. "Why…that girl…" he fumed quietly.

"Calm down," Ventus said soothingly, picking up a few nearby trinkets and placing them on a perched rock, "These are quite interesting…"

"Are you serious?!" Sebastian made his way to stand on the perched rock amongst the trinkets, picking up a pearl necklace with his claw, "These things…they're…"

"Shh…" Roxas shushed, "Ariel's speaking to Sora!"

* * *

"I'm guessing this is why you're so obsessed with the human world, huh, Ariel?" Sora asked, putting down a box of shining sticks and swimming upward to be with the mermaid.

"Of course!" Ariel responded leisurely, "Humans seem to make such wonderful things! Things that I can't even name myself! But these things…they feel so good…"

"Yeah…?" Sora quirked an eyebrow, unsure of where Ariel was going.

"I don't see how humans can be bad with such wonderful things being crafted by them!"

The brunette shrugged, "Well, there's more to people than what they make, so maybe…"

"Well, sure…I get that, I guess…" Ariel sighed as she made her way to a small box and opened it, starting a gentle tune and revealing two figures, one male, one female, in a dancing pose, as they slowly rotated within the box, "But…that's all Daddy sees in them. He doesn't see them as creative beings, or anything like that."

"I can see where you're coming from," Sora nodded, "Mom used to tell me great stories of how merpeople and humans used to get along, before a war was declared on the surface. After that, none of the merpeople wanted to associate themselves with the human world ever again."

"But the wars never last for long!" Ariel countered, "They all die out eventually!" She sighed again as she brought her attention back to the box, picking it up as she listened to its melody, "And it's not just the human stuff that makes me so interested…have you seen a human before?"

"No…not really." Sora shook his head, "Our kingdom's quite far from any shore."

"Well, they seem to get around places on these strange things attached to them," the redhead explained, "Where our tails and find are. Urm…what're they called…"

Flounder swam closer to the two and shook his fins slightly, to help Sora understand.

"Oh!" Ariel suddenly burst out before putting down the music box and shaking Flounder's fin gently, "Feet!"

"What's so special about them?" Sora questioned.

Ariel gazed longingly upward as she interlocked her fingers by her chest, "Oh, they're so amazing! I've seen humans dance before! And do this thing Scuttle said was 'jumping'! It's how they're able to get all the way down the, er…'streets'?"

"Wait…so are you…" Sora looked extremely puzzled as he tried to figure out what his friend was getting at, "Saying what I… _think…_ you're…?"

"Yep!" Ariel smiled, closing her eyes and letting herself sink to the rock formation at the bottom of the cavern, "I wanna be part of the human world!"

Suddenly, the sound of something crashing to the ground was heard, and the three turned around in its direction to find Sebastian surrounded by a cluster of small pearls, that must have slipped off the thread they were all on.

"S-Sebastian!" Ariel panicked as the three swam towards the crab. He had found her secret place! What was he to say to her father! Who knows what punishment she'd get for collecting human things? What surprised her even more was that he was not alone, as Ventus and Roxas shied away from their poor attempt to hide and approached her, their heads hanging low.

"Ven? Roxas?" Sora called out angrily, "What are you two doing here?"

"What're you doing with a million human objects?" Ventus countered, but seemingly directing his question moreso to Ariel.

"Dat's what I'd also like to know!" Sebastian agreed, swimming straight into Ariel's face, "All of dis…these… _human_ things! Oh if the King found out he'd-"

"You wouldn't tell him would you?" Flounder exclaimed with worry as he got up in the crab's face.

"Please, Sebastian, I-" Ariel silenced herself as she heard a loud bang coming from above. From the surface to be exact. She rose from her position and swam upward to the top of the cavern and out through the opening.

"What is that?" Sora asked openly, and followed the mermaid, with Flounder accompanying him.

"Sora!" the twins called after him with concern.

"Wait!" Sebastian yelled, before he and the twins went to catch up with them. Oh, he was so not done chewing Ariel out!


	4. Helping A Human

Ariel was ignoring everything in her way as she swam up towards the peculiar noise that seemed to be coming from the surface. She was not going to stop until she found its source and what it was. Sora, in a similar mindset, was also curious to find out what it was, with Flounder flipping his little fins as quickly as he could to catch up to the adventurous merpeople. Sebastian, however, was groaning as he was catching up to them, before eventually grabbing of the twins' tails – he couldn't necessarily tell from behind – for support.

"Ariel, wait!" Sora shouted in her direction, since the noises were getting louder, "What if humans-?"

But Ariel was not paying attention. She was now at the surface, admiring the magnificent ship in awe as bright colored lights were directed into the sky. She giggled in fascination as Sora, Flounder and the twins joined her gazing.

"Ariel-" Sebastian began as he emerged from the water, before jumping back upon seeing the lights, "Jumpin' jellyfish!"

"Wonder what's going on!" Roxas pondered aloud.

"Not sure," Ariel responded before making her way to the ship.

"Ariel!" the crab cried, "Ariel, wait! It's not safe to be here!"

Again, Ariel was too focused on this fascinating sight to pay attention. Sora followed Ariel, with concern for his friend, but stayed next to the ship, contemplating whether or not to join her in case of an emergency. Ariel made her way along the ship by climbing the netting, and found a nice place to sit on the ship, with a small opening from which she could see several humans on board, playing instruments and dancing joyfully.

_It's beautiful…_ she thought admiringly, before being interrupted from her thoughts by a weird, fluffy creature licking her face. She chuckled lightly at the action.

"Max! Here boy!" A male voice called, and it must have been aimed at the creature, as it ran straight to him in response.

Ariel focused her attention to the male in question. He was quite an extraordinary gentleman, wearing a white shirt, blue trousers and black shoes. His hair was black as the night sky and had charming blue eyes. He was now ruffling the creature – Max's – fur, smiling, and holding a snarfblatt in his free hand.

He's so handso-

"Hey, Ariel, watcha-" Sora began to ask as he perched himself next to the mermaid, and was immediately shushed by her.

"Look at him," Ariel removed her grip from Sora's lips and allowed him to gaze in the direction she had been, "Isn't he cute?"

"I dunno," Sora shrugged, "Looks like a little bit of a mess if you ask me."

Ariel looked at him confused, only to realize he must've been referring to Max, whose tongue was now hanging out of his mouth.

"Not that one!" she objected as she guided his head in the right direction, "That one. Playing the snarfblatt."

"Oh!" Sora chuckled, "Well, that makes more sense."

"I don't think I've never seen a human this close before…" Ariel sighed, lost in her own little world, which only consisted of her and this dashing raven-haired man.

"Neither have I…" Sora awed happily. His own attention seemed to be drifting off to another human on the ship: a silver-haired young gentleman wearing some exquisite clothing.

* * *

Prince Eric wasn't exactly enjoying his birthday party. If it weren't for Max being able to come on the ship, he'd have probably made an objection to doing anything special.

But of course, his confident, Grimsby, had insisted they do something special, and had even invited Prince Riku, Eric's life-long friend from a neighboring kingdom, to stay for a week to celebrate. The young prince had remembered being overjoyed at hearing this news, for the two princes has not spoken for quite a long while, or at least, leisurely – Riku did often come by for trade information and other matters typically associated with princes.

"Silence, everybody," the confident ordered as Eric saw him approaching, "Eric, it is with great honor that I present to you-"

"OK, Grim, let's not get carried away," Riku chuckled as he made his way to Eric, running a hand through his silver hair as he did so. He, like Eric, was far more colloquial when it came to these things, which only made him more fun to be with.

Grimsby gathered himself and continued, "Anyway, Eric. Today I give you a marvelous gift. Perhaps the biggest and most expensive of all your gifts,"

"Aw, Grims, you shouldn't have," Eric allowed for himself to have a laugh in response and gave the man an appreciative little nudge on the back.

Grimsby was not impressed, and nonetheless continued, "It was crafted by only the finest craftsmen in the kingdom, with a few from Riku's kingdom even being commissioned to help out with it as well."

Three of the sailors on board then removed the large cover from the nearby birthday gift, revealing it to be a large marble statue of Eric, standing heroically with a shield and sword in hand.

"It's uh…" Eric was at a struggle for words. It wasn't that it was _awful_ , per-say, but perhaps, it was just a little…

"Isn't it too much, Grimsby?" Riku asked, stifling a chuckle.

"I'd hardly say so," the confident had a firm, smug grin planted on his face, "It is surely the best birthday present one could ever give the prince!" Ignoring the murmurs of disapproval across the ship, he then turned to Eric, his grin worn down and now looking sourly at him, "Of course, I did hope for this to be what I'd give as a _wedding_ present but apparently that's too much to ask for…"

Eric rolled his eyes. Was Grimsby seriously not over this? "So what if I didn't like Princess Morningstar?" he asked, almost bitterly, but as princely as can be, "And if anything, she looked as if she'd rather be reading a book than actually talk to me."

"Yes, I did notice that, but Tulip is a fine young lady from a bordering kingdom! She was the best you could ever had!"

"So Riku…" the raven-haired prince turned to his silver-headed friend, looking for a way out, "How'd your parents react to you wanting to find a prince to marry?"

Riku looked at his friend with honest eyes, and a warm smile, "Ah, they were OK with it. I do think they were quite shocked and a little disappointed, but I think that they ultimately don't mind, especially when I've got an older brother who's more likely gonna have the throne."

"Don't you ever want the throne?"

Riku sighed, and came to the edge of the boat, resting his elbows, "I don't think I'd mind missing it. After all, it's just a lot of work, right? No…I think I want to fall in love for the sake of just being in love. I'm sure I'll find somebody out there…"

"Well, we can keep looking together," Eric approached his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Both of the young princes were unaware of the merboy and mermaid lingering below them on the other side of the boat, listening contently as they talked on and on.

"Who knows?" Riku shrugged, "Maybe they'll hit us up themselves – like lightning!"

As if the gods heard them, a lightning bolt suddenly struck nearby. All the men on deck looked up to see the dark eclipsed by a deep fog, black clouds also forming as lightning struck periodically.

"Hurricane's a comin'!" one of the crew members exclaimed as they manned the decks.

* * *

"Guys, we need to get out of here!" Roxas exclaimed worryingly as he, Ventus and Sebastian made their way back to Atlantica.

Ariel and Sora held onto each other for resistance for the sudden wind picking up. This was to no avail, however, as they both ended up succumbing to the force, tumbling back to the ocean. They swam back up to witness what was happening up on the surface.

"Ariel!" Sora cried, tugging lightly at her arm before diving back into the ocean. He soon realized she was not following, and swam back up, "Come on, everybody's gone, so we should-"

Ariel's gaze did not falter, as she continued to stare at Eric as he was the only one left on the ship, rescuing his dog who had gotten caught in some of the cluttering wreckage that was alit. With Max in his arms, Eric had carried him to the last small boat that was almost ready to leave, giving him to Riku. Unfortunately, Ariel watched as Eric himself was not successful in getting on the boat, getting caught on a loose floorboard on the deck.

"Ariel, seriously-" Sora sighed as Ariel swam over to the human, the boat gradually sinking. It was clear that she wanted to save him, and Sora proceeded to witness her heroic deed from underwater.

The mermaid had an unconscious Eric in her arms, pulling him with all of her strength, but alas, she moved mere inches at a time, finding herself in straining positions as she tried.

"Sora!" she called out to him, "Help me, please!"

As if automatically, Sora immediately grabbed Eric by the legs, "Come on!"

They both swam carefully to the closest piece of land was, making sure to avoid all forms of wreckage from the storm, as it was violently sent in all directions.

* * *

It was now morning, and Ariel lay on the sands by a great castle, with Eric, still unconscious, lying beside her. She looked at him with sad, blue eyes. Surely he wasn't dead, was he? Sora sat close by, but far enough from both of them, partially startled by the idea of being extremely close to a human like this.

"Hey, you two!" Scuttle greeted as he flew towards them, landing next to Ariel, "Who's your friend?"

Ariel took ahold of Eric's head, stroking his hair lightly with her fingers.

"So, um, is he dead?" Sora asked freely.

"Let's check," Scuttle flew over to Eric's foot, and planted it to where one would normally see ears. Predictably, he heard nothing, "Can't make out a heartbeat. Sorry."

"Wait!" Ariel beamed quietly, as she watched the prince's chest, "He's breathing!"

"Oh, well, look at that!" Scuttle mused with a smile.

"He's so handsome…" the mermaid stared admiringly at him; taking in all of this human's perfections.

"He doesn't seem as cruel as our parents tell us they are," Sora sighed, as Ariel gave him a nod of approval before focusing on Eric again.

" _What would I give to live where you are…"_ Ariel sang a beautiful melody to the prince's resting body, about hope, and her dream to be with him on land – a part of his world…

A wave suddenly crashed upon a nearby rock, washing up Sebastian, Flounder and the twins. They looked exhausted, and had failed getting back to the castle in time. Sebastian was quick to react to the scene he had opened his eyes to, but was quickly restrained by Ventus, who stared on admirably.

Eric then started to grunt lightly, and opened his eyes slightly to find a beautiful woman, who he couldn't make out due to the sunlight beaming down cheerfully upon them.

"Eric!" Grimsby's voice cried out as he was approaching the prince with Riku. Ariel and Sora heard this and took it as a cue to get out of the way. The dived back into the ocean, but then resurfaced on a nearby rock, peering on at the scene.

* * *

Eric got up. He had no idea what on earth just happened. When'd he get to the surface? How did he get there, and how long had he been out here for? His clothes were tattered and he still felt pained. He wasn't even standing up straight, but rather jaggedly moving around in one spot.

"Oh, Eric, we've been so worried about you, buddy!" Riku was quick to wrap an arm around his friend, getting him to stand still for a moment.

"The most beautiful girl…" Eric spluttered, images of the maiden still firm in his mind, "Rescued me…her voice…"

"Oh, dear, Eric, I think you've perhaps swallowed a bit too much seawater." Grimsby responded.

"Come on, dude, let's get you back in the castle," Riku said as he guided Eric back to the castle, Grimsby leading the way as he often did.

* * *

Ariel and Sora rose up on the rock, staring in the direction of the humans. These particular humans seemed especially interesting.

"So, are you guys okay?" Roxas asked.

"What were you doing with that human?" Ventus also asked.

Both questions were ignored by the duo, their attention now focusing on something shining in the sunlight. It was caught between a few of the dents on the rock.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

Ariel reached down and got it out, "Hmm…" she said, studying iy carefully. There was a large 'E' on one side of it, and it looked like a pendant, "I think it might be his."

"Perhaps we could keep it," Sora suggested, "He might have more back at his castle,"

"I suppose so…" Ariel nodded, hugging the pendant by holding it close to her face.

"Oh, boy…" Sebastian sighed, "What a calamity…"

* * *

Unknown to everybody, two eels were watching the scene, each with a glowing yellow eye. They were Ursula's pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam. Similar to Axel and Terra, their magic eyes formed an image for the sea witch, who had witnessed the whole ordeal with Axel and Terra.

"I told you that waiting was key!" the sea witch cackled at her henchman, "Now the child's fallen for the human! A prince, at that!"

"I think that other kid's fallen for that other prince as well," Axel smirked, "Both their parents are gonna _love_ this…"

"Oh, this is too easy!"

"You're just forgetting one thing…" Terra interjected, before his boss and friend could start one of her many monologues.

"We need to get her here," Axel added, "Now, how the hell you gonna do that?"

Ursula smirked, "That's your job, dears, not mine. Now, go out and find her. Lure her here."

"Don't need to tell me twice," the redheaded merman smirked as he left with Terra.

Ursula turned to her nearby 'garden', where several polyps looked back at her with worried eyes, "I think Triton's little lovesick girl would make a wonderful addition to this little garden…"


	5. Getting Caught

Sora and Ariel made sure to quickly hurry back to the palace, to avoid any questioning from King Triton. They must've been out and about for hours, and no doubt he was getting quite furious as well as worried for his youngest daughter. In Sora's case, he'd just want to avoid Cloud's cold stares, as did the twins, who only just kept up with the fast-paced duo, Sebastian and Flounder tailing just behind them.

Roxas and Ventus could both tell that something was different, by the way Sora and Ariel seemed to be swimming with wide grins, that only faded to a smile at best. They assumed that it was that human Ariel was with to be why she was acting like this, but Sora?

"What'd you think's got him?" Ventus whispered to his twin, making sure to slow down a little to avoid their brother immediately hearing them.

Roxas subtly shrugged, "Who knows?"

"What if he's…" Ventus gestured using two hands, interlocking them as if to indicate a relationship.

"Maybe." Roxas mused, "I mean, this is Sora we're talking about, so it could probably happen."

"It'd be great if it did-"

"What're ya goin' on about?" Sebastian interrupted their train of thought, causing everyone to look at them questionably.

"Us?" Roxas pointed at himself as he and his twin exchanged nervous glances, "Oh, we were just, umm…wondering about…"

"Stuff!" Ventus added for him, "Some stuff we might considering doing once we get back home, like…"

"Finding ourselves boyfriends!" Roxas slowly concluded, before immediately having a hand cover his mouth – of course, it was Ven's hand.

"Right…" Sora stared on at them. His smile from before was still as visible as it had been, as he turned back in the direction they had been swimming in. The twins sighed in relief as they followed everyone else.

"Seriously?" Ventus hissed quietly, " _That,_ of all things?!" He did not get a response, but Roxas merely brushed him off.

"Oh, guys?" Sora's voice called to them from ahead.

"…yeah?"

"If you guys need any help with finding yourselves boyfriends, I'll be glad to help you out!"

Sora did not notice the angry blushes his brothers were accumulating, and the twins did not realize that, regardless, Sora was smirking with pure delight – even moreso than he already was.

* * *

It wasn't long before the group made it to the palace, only without Flounder, who had returned to his own living quarters. Ariel had gone on her own merry way to her and her sisters' bedrooms, while Sora, Roxas, Ventus and Sebastian made their way to the throne room, where Cloud was nervously pacing around the throne. Upon their arrival, Cloud seemed quite relieved, as well as over-protective, as he almost tackled Sora and the twins within a big, safe hug.

"Sora!" Cloud called softly as he let go, "Oh, I've been so worried!"

"Relax, Cloud, I'm fine." The brunette said coolly.

"Speak for yourself," Roxas muttered, referring to the fairly rough token of affection just given to them, and met with an eye-roll from his eldest brother.

"Where's the King?" Ventus asked, his eyes darting around the room.

"He's in some other part of the castle." Cloud replied, before turning back to Sora, "So, where were you? Is Ariel back as well?"

"Oh, Ariel took me to see something interesting," Sora shrugged, "And she should be with her sisters now."

"Ah, good." Cloud smiled, ruffling his brother's hair, "And hey, guess what?"

"What?" Ventus asked in response.

"Mom's coming shortly,"

"Mom's coming?" Roxas questioned, "Why?"

"I don't know," Cloud responded, "All me and the King heard was that she was expected to arrive in a while from now."

"But isn't she busy with stuff?" Roxas asked.

"I guess Dad's dealing with everything himself. I'm sure he's doing fine."

"Do you know the reason?" Sora asked.

"Not a clue." Cloud replied dully, "It could be something important. Mom doesn't usually hold back information like this."

"If de Queen of the Radiant Sea Gardens is coming then I better get everything prepared in the palace!" Sebastian suddenly busted out, swimming around frantically before leaving to attend to some rather important – and rather urgent and last minute – matters.

* * *

"Ariel, there you are!"

The mermaid's sisters were fussing all over Ariel left and right as soon as they saw her coming back home with the others before leading her over to their dressing room.

"Are you alright?" Attina asked.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Arista followed.

"Did you meet a cute boy?" Adella questioned, before being met with stares from her sisters, "What?"

Just as Attina was going to brush Ariel's hair, the youngest mermaid had quick to run her own fingers through the red wave of hair, before reaching for a purple flower on the counter and positioning it on her head. Along the way, she was quietly humming the cute little tune she had sung lyrics to but only a short while ago.

"Something's going on here…" Aquata mused, looking at her sister's rather relaxed expression through the mirror. It was something they had rarely ever seen in Ariel. She was usually a little sullen from the regulations of the kingdom, but now? She seemed like a totally different person.

"What's with her, then?" Arista pondered quietly over to Andrina, who shrugged in response.

"Hello, girls." King Triton greeted as he made his way into the room, his eyes immediately caught on the sight of Ariel, "Ah, Ariel, you've made it back! I hope you're alright!"

Ariel rose from the chair in which she was sitting and swam towards the exit. As she passed her father, she was twirling as she casually let out the melody of the tune escape her mouth in the form of "la's". She gave her father a hug and placed the flower from her hair in his hair, "I'm fine, Daddy!"

And with that she was out of there.

"Oh, she's got it bad…" Adella smirked with satisfaction, everyone's eyes suddenly piercing in her direction (not that it did anything to remove the smirk, though.)

"Why, what's she got?" Triton questioned.

"Isn't it obvious, Daddy? Ariel's in love!"

"Oh, brother," Attina huffed to Alana, "There she goes…"

Triton was not as skeptical, however, and plucked the flower from his head and examined it, "Ariel…in love?" he repeated, "Could it be…?"

"It probably could be!" Adella beamed, while the sisters all looked at her with doubt.

* * *

Sora and Ariel both met up around the outskirts of the kingdom, surrounded by a wonderful collection of sea flora. Ariel was picking at a flower while Sora was simply admiring the flowers, his thoughts drifting off to the handsome silver-haired human from earlier. Sebastian was with them, having finished preparing for Sora's mother's arrival, pacing worryingly nearby.

"Oh, dis is terrible, mon!" the crab exclaimed, though to nobody in particular. He started to hyperventilate, but then calmed down, "But so far, we're good. I doubt the King has any suspicions…"

"Chillax, Sebastian," Sora said coolly, as Ariel picked petals of a flower, as if to determine if the human she was thinking about loved her, "It's not a bad thing…"

Sebastian disregarded the teen's comment and went back to his pacing, "It probably won't be long until the secret's out!"

"Hey, Sora!" Flounder suddenly whispered from behind, as if to not get Ariel's attention (although she was quite invested in what she was doing, with half a flower to go), "Could you come with me?"

"Sure, what for?"

"It's a surprise!" Flounder took off after that. Sora looked on with questions flooding his mind, but shook them off as he tailed after the fish.

"He loves me!" Ariel announced as she picked the last, and lucky, petal from the flower, "I knew it!"

"Ariel, you need to get over this-this juvenile crush of yours!" Sebastian ordered, getting in the mermaid's face, before grabbing some of her hair, "Dis is forbidden! The King will surely have my shell for this!"

Ariel ignored his ranting and swam around, "I've got to see him again!" she said openly and freely, "Tonight!"

"What?" Sebastian looked on at her with anger. Had she not been listening to him?

"Yeah! We'll swim up to his castle, and then splash around to get his attention, and-"

"Nonono!" the crab countered, catching up to Ariel, "You can't go to the surface! Your home is down here, under the water!"

Ariel sighed, "But Sebastian, I-"

"You're a teenager," Sebastian interrupted, pacing on a nearby rock as he continued to give the girl a lecture, turning his back to her as he did so, "You think that you're in love with this human…thing…but I can safely assure you that you are currently just experiencing nothing more than a simple feeling of having a teenage crush on him. It's not true love – it's just you having no idea how to control these feelings. And why would you even wanna live on de land? Ya know they eat us up there, right? They fish day and night and put us on the plate! They slave away up there while we get to enjoy life under the waves! Now doesn't that sound much better than-"

But when he turned around, Sebastian found that he was alone.

Curses! That girl was more trouble than she's worth.

"Ariel?" Sebastian asked weakly. It was fairly obvious that Ariel wasn't there, but now he was getting nervous. Where did she go? Could she have gone up to the surface while he was talking? The crab immediately took off to the land, calling Ariel's name in hopes of getting a respon-

"Sebastian!" a voice from behind called. Sebastian recognised it to be from one of the King's faithful seahorse companions, this one often assigned with messages to deliver.

"Yes?" The crab responded, nervously. Perhaps it was about Ariel…

"The Sea King wants to see you right away! It's to do with Ariel."

Drat.

_He knows._

* * *

Sebastian approached Triton's throne room gingerly, finding the King talking to the Queen from the Radiant Sea Gardens, and Cloud located just next to them.

"He sure is a lucky merman…" Triton mused, gazing at the flower he'd been given earlier before noticing Sebastian's presence, where he, in response, hid the flower and maintained a highly posture, "Come forth, Sebastian,"

Sebastian complied with the order, perching himself on the left armrest of the throne.

"You remember Queen Aqua, don't you?" Triton asked.

"O-of course, Your Majesty," Sebastian shook, "I've been making sure everything was prepared for her arrival…"

"I've noticed," Aqua giggled, "How thoughtful. Though I must apologize again for my last-minute intrusion. I hope it's not been a significant inconvenience…"

"Of course not!" Triton countered with a smile, "We're always happy and honoured to have you and your family visit!"

"They do make us feel welcome." Cloud added, which only further added to Triton's pride.

"Anyway, Sebastian," Triton focused his attention back to the crab, who was starting to shiver, "Have you noticed anything…peculiar…about Ariel recently?"

"Um…no, Your Majesty…" the crab replied weakly.

"You haven't found her random moments of singing to herself and daydreaming to be quite odd?"

"Well, when you put it that way-"

"Sebastian…" the King's voice took a new turn. A serious turn. "I know there's something you're hiding from me…"

"About Ariel…" Cloud added.

"In love…?" Aqua finished.

Sebastian sat there, perfectly still. His body was struck with horror. His shell suddenly felt too tight. One wrong move, and the King would surely break him in two with little stress.

"She wouldn't listen to me! Oh, sire, forgive me! But I told her that humans were too much trouble! That they were bad, malicious and dangerous, but-"

"Humans?" Aqua repeated.

"WHAT ABOUT HUMANS?!" The King fumed, pointing his trident at Sebastian in anger. It hovered only a few millimeters away from his shell.

* * *

"Come on, Flounder! Tell me! What is it?"

Ariel couldn't hold back her excitement anymore. Flounder had come by to tell her that he had a surprise for her, and now he was leading her to her grotto, with Sora, Roxas and Ventus also accompanying them. She was just dying to see what on earth the fuss was about, as everyone seemed quite overjoyed over whatever it was.

"It's a surprise!" Roxas told her.

"You wouldn't want to spoil it, would ya?" Ventus added.

"You'll love it!" Sora cheerfully noted.

And she did.

She saw it. In the center of her grotto, there stand a marvellous statue of a human. Not just any human – Ariel recognised it to be the exact one from the ship the other day. Perhaps Flounder found it from wherever the remains of that ship were. But, oh, how the stature was beautiful!

"Oh my gosh, guys, you're the best!" Ariel gave each of them a hug of appreciation as she approached the statue, stroking the prince's cheek, "It's even got his perfect eyes…" she leaned in on the statue, her head leaning in on his shoulder, "Oh, Eric, I'd love to run away with you…perhaps we could explore together." The mermaid then proceeded to twirl around with glee at her newest addition to the collection. A rather important addition indeed!

"See?" Flounder said triumphantly to the twins, "I told you she'd love it!"

The twins could only huff in response. They had been a bit sceptical when Sora had called them over for help, but they supposed that they were happy that they got to see the princess in such a joyous mood.

"It might not be the real prince, but at least she has his likeness in stone!" Sora mused with delight, "If only my prince had had his beautiful face and sexy body carved in stone for me to find…"

"And just who is this 'prince' of yours, Sora?" a familiar voice said from behind.

Everyone turned to see a mermaid with bright blue hair, a purple seashell bra with purple fabric over it, as well as a turquoise tail approaching them, following King Triton, Cloud, and Sebastian, who was firmly within the King's grip. Clearly things hadn't gone too well with him.

"Mom!" Sora said aloud.

"Daddy…" Ariel's voice faltered, almost shattering.

"So…all these years of keeping you safe in my kingdom, and this is how you repay me?" Triton bellowed at his daughter.

"But Daddy-"

"We've been through this time and time again, Ariel!" Triton's hands waved around frantically in frustration, letting go of Sebastian in the process, "Contact with humans is strictly forbidden!"

"But you don't know them!" Ariel countered, although it came out as quite weak.

"I don't have to know them," Triton shouted back, "And is it true you saved one from drowning?"

"He could have died!"

"ONE LESS HUMAN TO WORRY ABOUT!"

Sora and the twins swam over to Ariel's side, as if to defend her. Her father wasn't looking so good, and with his trident in his hand, things could always get ugly.

"And is it also true that YOU helped her?" Triton directed this question at Sora, who felt as though this took him aback.

"Well, yes, I did. I-"

"Sora," Aqua suddenly stepped in, "You should have known better than to help a human!"

"Well, it's not my fault if I love one of them-" Sora immediately stopped talking.

"You as well…?" Aqua sighed, "I cannot believe this!" She then looked over at the twins, "Do either of you have any confessions?"

"No ma'am, we're good." They answered, without confidence.

"And what's wrong with me loving him?" Ariel got her father's attention again, "I don't care if he's a human and I'm a mermaid!"

"I will get this through to you, Ariel…" Triton hissed, as his trident began to glow. Aqua, Flounder and Sebastian took cover from the damage the King was starting to commence, breaking everything on the shelves within the grotto. Ariel, Sora and the twins could only watch in pure shock and horror, the former two attempting to defend some of the gadgets and gizmos.

"Daddy, no!" Ariel cried, as her father aimed straight for the statue. It shattered into several pieces, leaving no part of the prince's figure even the least bit intact.

Once he was done and calmed himself down, Triton turned around and left the grotto. He briefly looked back with a face of regret before he did leave. Aqua gave her three sons an expression of disappointment, before leaving with her eldest.

Ariel burst into tears, resting herself in the statue's remains. Sora similarly broke down next to her, while Ventus and Roxas swam outside with Flounder and Sebastian, allowing them to have a moment of silence after the whole ordeal.

"Why…?" Ariel sobbed, "What…why…"

"C'mon, Ariel…" Sora tried to comfort his friend, "I'm sure that…umm…he doesn't mean it…" he trailed off once he realized the mermaid was too depressed to listen to what he had to ramble on about.

He looked up once he saw a lack of light all of a sudden, finding two figures that must have witnessed the whole dilemma secretly given their positioning within the higher shelves of the grotto.

"Look at that," the first one, the redheaded merman, said, "The poor thing."

"Indeed," the second one, the brunette merman, agreed, "Looks like she's had a bit of a serious falling out over a boy."

Ariel looked up to find the mermen swimming towards her, "Who are you?"

"I'm Axel," the redheaded merman spoke, "And this is Terra,"

"We couldn't help but hear you're having a problem…" Terra smiled assuringly.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Sora asked dismissively.

"What if we said that we know someone – a friend of ours – that can help you?" Axel asked, "Help you achieve something you've dreamed of!"

"You and the prince…" Terra grinned convincingly, "Together forever…"

"Wait, what?" Ariel questioned, eyeing Sora, as if he were to go up to one of them and fight them.

"Ursula has great powers…"

"The sea witch of the Forbidden Lands?" Sora asked knowingly, "But, we couldn't possibly-"

"Suit yourself," Axel interrupted, although despite the rejection they were giving him, he and Terra didn't look unfazed, "It's just a suggestion," They turned to leave the grotto, but as they did, Terra used his tail to flick a piece of the statue from the ground in Ariel's direction.

The mermaid picked the piece up. It was a part of Eric's face. Surprisingly, it was of half of his face, consisting of an eye, half his nose, and some of his lips. She looked at it with doubt. Could they be right? Could Ursula, the sea witch who was long ago banished form the kingdom due to her practises in dark magic, be of any help?

"Wait…"

The mermen turned around, "Yes…?"

"Ariel…" Sora began.

Ariel silenced him, "Come with me, then,"

Sora sighed, but that did not stop him from following the mermen with Ariel.


	6. Making A Deal

Sebastian paced around outside the grotto, rambling on to Flounder and the twins, who weren't necessarily paying attention for the most part.

"Where'd I go wrong?" the crab whined, "I didn't mean to tell, it's just- it was an accident! You know the King – you never wanna get on his bad side, and nothing's ever a secret a long!"

"Yeah…" Flounder back-channeled, "Poor Ariel, though…"

"I hope she'll look part this and-" Sebastian noticed a familiar shadow casting over them and looked up, finding Ariel swimming to who-knows-where with Sora and two other mermen he could not decipher.

What in the name of Poseidon was that girl up to?

"Ariel!" Sebastian called as he and the others swam up to join them, everyone stopping in their tracks upon seeing them, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm going to see Ursula," Ariel dully informed as she went back to following Axel and Terra.

"And I'm going with her," Sora added as he continued, only to be grabbed by the wrist by Ventus. The other three also turned back to witness the exchange.

"Sora, wait! You two can't go with them!"

"Why ever not, pretty boy?" Terra asked, inching closer to the blond, who shied away.

Axel seemed to be pulling off a similar move on Roxas, "Ursula's able to make their dreams and wishes come true. You really want to stop them?" The redhead paused dramatically as he stared into Roxas' eyes for a few moments. The blond was silent, and Axel smirked as he continued in a seductive whisper, "Name's Axel. That's Terra."

"Nice to meet you," Terra grinned as he went to kiss Ventus' hand, only to be slapped by that hand. Not that it fazed him anyway, "Geez, a guy tries to be polite and gets a slap in the face…"

Sora huffed, his arms crossed. "Could we get going, you think?"

"Of course!" Axel smirked as he led the way, Terra joining him, and Ariel following with Sora.

Sebastian latched himself to Ariel's fin in attempts of a final plea, "Ariel, I won't allow for you two to do this! The King-"

"Why don't you just go tell our parents?" Sora hissed, as Ariel effectively flicked her tail, throwing the crab off of her, "You're good at that."

Roxas sighed as they saw the four swim off, "We best deal with this ourselves,"

"Come on!" Sebastian commanded as he followed their direction.

Today was gonna be a _long_ day…

* * *

Ariel and Sora shivered slightly as they approached Ursula's lair in the Forbidden Waters. There was very little sea flora and whatever was there was all decayed or half-dead, no joy seeming to emit from the plants.

"You scared?" Axel asked, casually, moving some aged kelp out of the way.

Both Ariel and Sora shook their heads, "Nah, we're fine!" The latter assured, "We're just not used to this part of the ocean is all…"

"There's no need to panic," Terra interjected, "Ursula helped us out back when we were exiled from Atlantica, by making us her assistants."

"What does that entail?" Ariel asked, curiously.

"We basically help her find merfolk in need of a little help and bring them over so that she can work her magic."

"Is she any good?"

Axel scoffed, "Well, if she wasn't we wouldn't be in this situation, now, would we?"

Sora looked down, "N-no, I guess not."

"We're here," Terra announced as the four approached Ursula's "fortress". It didn't really look like a fortress, but rather a makeshift cavern made from the remains of a larger sea creature. Its mouth served as the entrance, and the merfolk made their way through.

Sora looked at the structure, slowing his pace down slightly as he moved more reluctantly. Ariel noticed this change and grabbed his hand, encouraging to move forward with her, "C'mon Sora. There's no going back."

"Right you are, Princess!" Terra nodded, as the four approached a "garden" of weird little creatures, "Oh, don't mind these things. They're just…"

"They learnt not to mess with Ursula." Axel finished, "If she gives you an opportunity, take it. Don't try crossing her."

"Good to know…" Ariel shivered. She couldn't believe these things used to be merpeople. From Atlantica, no doubt.

"Wait here." Axel calmly ordered as he and Terra swam around a corner. Sora and Ariel looked past the corner, to find a cauldron in the center of an open room, pink plants hanging from the ceiling immediately in front of the two, as well as a vanity nearby a small room, which Terra and Axel went in.

The two mermen reappeared, and gestured the other two to come forward.

"Come, my dears…" a deep, feminine voiced said sweetly, and with that, its owner emerged from the room. She was a rather big caecilian with six tentacles, grey hair and quite a lot of makeup on her face. For some people, she would definitely appear attractive, especially since she seemingly nailed being seductive through her looks.

"We mustn't lurk in hallways, or doorways…" she continued, a hand on her hip, as she landed on the ground, "It's _rude._ " She then smirked, "One could possibly question your upbringing…"

"You're Ursula," Ariel stated.

"The one and only," Axel answered for his boss.

"Indeed, my dear," Ursula smiled, but whether it was to Ariel or Axel was anyone's guess, "Now, should we get to business?"

"Yes," Ariel nodded slowly.

"Well, my dear," Ursula strutted over to her vanity, her tentacles moving slowly as she did so. The sea witch picked up what seemed to be lipstick with her thumb and index finger as she swiped it across her lips, now a heavier shade of red, "You're hear because of this prince fellow, as I recall. A human prince, at that."

Sora looked surprised, "How did you-?" He stopped when he saw Axel and Terra grinning and waving at him, their fingers then pointing to their eyes, and the merman noticed a glow in the cauldron. Ariel's gaze, however, was focused on the sea witch, and what she had yet to say.

"Not that I blame you," Ursula continued, referring to the mermaid's situation, "He's quite a catch, isn't he?" As she giggled innocently, Sora shot another questionable glare at her mermen henchmen, who only look around the room with firm grins on their faces.

"What are you proposing?" Ariel asked the caecilian.

"Well, little angelfish, the solution to your problem is simple," Ursula smiled into the vanity mirror, looking at Ariel through her reflection, "The only way you'll be able to get what you want…is to become a human yourself.

A human? Was she suggesting what Ariel thought she was suggesting? There was no way she could…could she?

"You could do that?"

Ursula turned around, her hands in her lap, and smiling a seemingly warm smile, "Oh, dear child, it's what I do!" She rose from her seat, coming close to Ariel, "It's my life, sweetie! Helping poor souls, like yourself, with nowhere else, and noone else, to turn to. Indeed, I've had my share of nasty moments in the past, but trust me, I have repented and changed my ways since!"

"Are you saying that you have the power to…?" Ariel asked her question again.

"Indeed! I'm more than happy to help out the miserable, lonely and depressed! It warms my heart to see them happy!"

Ariel nodded, understandingly, "Well…go on…"

* * *

This place was spooky.

The twins had made their way sneakily to their destination, with Sebastian and Flounder in tow. They had been rather careful in making sure they were not caught by Ariel, Sora and those two, creepy henchmen.

Even if that meant hiding in a field of urchins.

"Never again!" Sebastian cried, pulling out a spike from his shell and hastily discarding it, "When we get back, I'm gonna go up to Triton and tell him to get a better babysitter!"

"Is this Ursula's fortress?" Roxas asked freely, "Or a cemetery?"

"No, dis is the right place…" Sebastian nodded, "Triton knows of dese Waters, and she made herself a house out of the great Serpentine…"

"O…kay…I'm not gonna ask…" Ventus said as the four made their way through the Serpentine's mouth, otherwise known as the only entrance.

"Jumpin' jellyfish!" Sebastian exclaimed, as they made their way through Ursula's 'gardens', "Where did all those polyps…" his eyes widened, "No…"

"Why, what…" Roxas' eyes widened as the three caught on to what the crab was thinking, "Oh, hell, no! Our brother ain't being turned into one of these!" With that, the twins swam faster to the main room, as they saw Ursula, Ariel and Sora in front of a glowing cauldron, as well as those two mermen from earlier standing close by. They made an effort to try and hear what Ursula was saying to the merfolk.

"…you'll belong to _me!_ "

"No, Ariel!" Sebastian cried as he caught up with them, only for him and Flounder to be silenced by two eels, which seemingly came out of nowhere. Terra and Axel also swam in their direction, allowing for Ursula to go through more details with the mermaid.

"Well, well!" Axel said coolly, propping his arm on the wall as he eyed Roxas, "Lookie what the catfish dragged in!"

Roxas squirmed in his position, finding himself unable to take his gaze away from the redhead's odd eyes. Sure, the brunet also had them, but he was far more intrigued by yellow glow from Axel's green eyes, "Let us through!" he ordered weakly, "We're here to take our brother and Ariel back!"

"Oh, look at that!" Terra grinned, inching closer to Ventus, who shivered as he felt the bigger merman's hands land on his hips, "These two want to play the heroes…"

"You needn't worry…" Axel smirked, "They're in good hands…" His hands started to explore Roxas' body similar to Terra's on Ventus', both blonds seemingly distracted, "Just like you two…"

"Get off!" the twins exclaimed in unison, although it was to no avail…

Goddammit.

"So, if I were to become human…" Ariel pondered Ursula's bargain, "I'd never see my family or friends again…"

"That's right!" Ursula sarcastically looked surprised, before relaxing her expression, "But, you'd have your prince!" She chuckled, "Life's tough, isn't it?"

Ariel shied away, nodding slowly.

"Oh!" Ursula's eyes widened in surprise, "We've not discussed the subject of payment! We've got to be fair in the deal-making process, yes?"

"But-" Ariel stammered, "I don't have-"

The mermaid was silenced by a tentacle, as Sora watched on, ready to fight should the situation get ugly, "Don't worry, it's not going to be much," Ursula assured, removing her tentacle, "I'll guarantee you won't even miss it!"

"What do you want, then?"

Ursula propped a finger under Ariel's chin, "Your voice, my dear."

Ariel was taken aback. Her voice?! But surely, she'd need that to talk to the prince if she was to get him to fall in love with her, as required for her to remain human permanently.

The sea witch took note of all the expression the mermaid was making as she continued, "You have your looks, you know," she informed her, "You have a pretty face to win him over with! Remember the importance of body language!" Ursula, in order to express her point clearly, shook her own body suggestively, immediately gaining rather disgusted reactions from both merfolk. She took no offence as she made a golden contract appear, along with a pen, "So…do we have a deal?"

Ariel eyed the contract. There was a lot at stake here. If the prince did fall in love with her, she'd be able to live happily on the surface, but with that, she'd have to leave everything else behind. And, if she failed, she would belong to Ursula, and have no chance at finding love again…

OK, that actually made things a whole lot easier.

"Wait!" Sora exclaimed as his friend made a swift grab for the pen.

"Yes…?" Ursula look unfazed by the teen's interjection.

Sora inched closer to Ursula, his nerves increasing, "I…I…" He shook his head. He could do this. "I want to go with her!"

"WHAT?!" Ventus and Roxas exclaimed from around the corner, before being immediately silenced by Terra and Axel's hands, respectively.

"Sora…" Ariel said slowly, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." The merman nodded, "I want to go with you."

"You know, I am aware of you also being infatuated with that other prince…" Ursula added, "If you want…I could extend the contract for you."

"You could?" Sora asked with hope, "Oh, thank you! I'm guessing I'll have to give you my voice too!"

"Just sign the contract and you're good to go!" Ursula grinned, as she made another pen appear before her. Sora took it and swam over to the contract, signing it almost enthusiastically with Ariel.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Ursula smirked, magically bringing the contract to her before it disappeared in her hand.

The deed was done.

"Now…" Ursula began, her hands gesturing above the cauldron, "This shan't hurt a bit."

_Beluga Sevrgua, come winds of the Caspian Sea_   
_Larynxes Glacydis Ad Max Laryngitis, la voce to me!_

Two pairs of magic yet eerily thin green hands emerged from the cauldron, and each on lunged towards Sora and Ariel. They found themselves singing as the fingers made their way down their throats, and took out two golden glows, each one representing a voice taken. Ariel made a grab at her throat in surprise. She didn't feel pain, but it was all so shocking and soon…

Ursula's cackles could be heard as Sora and Ariel were each engulfed in two golden bubbles, their lower halves glowing bright gold as their tails separated, transforming into a pair of fresh, new human legs. As the magic faded, they found themselves struggling to breathe.

Of course, humans couldn't breathe underwater.

"Sora!" Ventus cried as he swam out of Terra's grip and grabbed his brother's arms, pulling him up to the surface as quick as he could.

"Ariel!" Roxas elbowed Axel in the stomach (who uttered a snarky comment about how the blond was "a feisty one") and proceeded to guide Ariel to the surface. Sebastian latched himself to Flounder as they swam up to follow them out of the fortress.

* * *

A few moments later, Ursula smirked at her two henchmen, as well as her pet eels, "Well, that went better than expected. Two royals in my hands…oh, Triton is sure to fall!"

Axel, only half-listening to his boss, grinned as Terra nodded in approval, "That Roxas is a hoot and a half! What about you, Ter?"

The brunet responded, "Mm…his brother isn't half bad either…"


	7. Day One

With his flute in hand, Eric was playing the tune he remembered hearing the other day. He just couldn't get it, or the girl who had sung it, out of his head. And so, here he was, out on the coast with Max, resting on a rock for hours, hoping the girl of his dreams would appear again before him, hopefully taking notice of the-

"Eric!"

The prince's train of thought paused as he saw a flash of silver coming towards him from the direction of the castle. Upon reaching him, Riku stood next to the prince, his arms resting on his friend's shoulders.

"You know, we've been looking everywhere in the castle for you, buddy," he explained, "I didn't think you'd come here. What brings you out here?"

Eric sighed, "I just…I can't get the voice out of my head. Am I crazy if I want to find this girl?"

"No, I wouldn't say so," Riku shook his head, "I mean, it's all in curiosity, right?"

"Right," The noiret prince solemnly replied, "I've been looking everywhere for her, but I've not been lucky at all. I know she's real, but…where could she be?"

* * *

It may have taken a while for them to reach the surface, but Ariel and Sora were intensely grateful for having been, even if they could no longer express such gratitude verbally.

Ariel had been quick to perform an unintentionally dramatic hair flip as she emerged from the water, as the two friends made their way to the beach, positioning themselves against a rock. As they sat on the sandy surface, they each lifted up a leg.

They had legs!

Sora joyfully wiggled his toes (from what he remembered Ariel telling him when it came to human body parts) and giggled, watching in awe when Ariel did the exact same thing.

"That was a close one!" Ventus panted, joining the two with Roxas, Sebastian and Flounder.

"I'll say," Roxas agreed, also catching his breath, "But, how the hell are we going to get them to over there?"

"They've got legs now!" Flounder interjected, "They can walk there!"

"Hey, hey!" A voice from above called. Everyone looked up to find Scuttle flying about, before he landed on Sora's leg, "Look what the tide's pulled in! Ha ha, look at you guys!"

"Hey there." Ventus greeted, "And you are…?"

"Scuttle," The seagull flapped a wing. He started to look between Ventus and Roxas, "Ooh, well…I'm guessing the pool's very small then, eh?"

"We're twins." Roxas pointed out dully.

Scuttle turned his attention back to Sora and Ariel, "But hey, something's a little…off…about you two…." His face started to look more perplexed, "Hmm…is it a new haircut…or umm…new seashells, Ariel?"

"LEGS!" Sebastian exclaimed as Sora and Ariel giggled at the seagull's inability yo see the obvious, "They're got legs, ya idiot! Jeez…"

"They traded their voices to the sea witch to get legs, so now they're human." Roxas explained.

"Uh huh." Scuttle nodded, but still looked confused.

"So they've gotta find true love kiss!" Flounder added.

Ariel looked at her legs, and decided to try them out. Better see how she was at walking. She found it quite a struggle to compose herself and balance herself out, but she eventually made it, her legs wobbling slightly. Sora proceeded to follow suit, and immediately grabbed Ariel's hand, both of them finding themselves stable, but not completely.

"They've only got three days!" Ventus finished as the turned around to find Ariel and Sora falling back into the sea.

"They need to learn how to use those legs," Roxas commented, "I mean, just look at them…"

Sebastian huffed in exasperation, "This is a catastrophe!"

"God, imagine what Mom and the King would have to say about this…" Ventus whispered to his twin.

"Oh, I'll tell you what they'd do!" Sebastian chimed, waving his claws frantically as the new humans stood up again (this time more successfully), "They'd cut me in half and eat me whole, that's what they'd do!" He angrily strutted in the direction of the ocean, "But I'm gonna march right back to 'em and tell them what their kids have done so they might just have time to convince Ursula to-"

To his surprise, he was picked up by Ariel, who shook her head rapidly, Sora next to her staring at the crab with wide eyes.

"And don't you shake your head at me, young lady!" he ordered, "You should be back with all the normal fish and just be…and just be…"

He took notice of the expression on Ariel's face, her eyes bulging with sadness, and her lips further adding to this. She wasn't going to be happy in life if that's what he was going to make her do, Sebastian noticed. He glanced over to Sora, and also noticed that it wasn't what the boy was wanting either. He just wanted to help Ariel, and quite frankly, so did Sebastian. It was the least he could do, for her sake. Just to make sure Ursula's hands were as far away from Ariel as possible.

And so he wasn't a dead crab. Couldn't have that.

Sebastian sighed, "All right…all right…" He looked up at them both, "I'll help you find your love…"

Ariel and Sora gleamed, the former giving the crab a peck on the top of his head.

"Ey…what a soft shell I'm turnin' out to be…"

Ventus spoke up, "And we'll help you guys out too!"

"We can't have Mom finding out about this, can we?" Roxas muttered, before being elbowed by his twin and catching Sora glaring at him, "What? It's true, though, she would kill you, dude."

Scuttle piped up, holding some white fabric that appeared to be a ship's sail, but nobody asked any questions, "All right, well, guys, if you're gonna be humans the first thing ya gotta do is dress like one!"

Ariel looked over to Sora, who shrugged as they made their way to get human fashion tips.

Roxas chuckled darkly, "Ooh, this I gotta see…"

* * *

Riku had begun to relax along the coast, playing a few games of Fetch with Max. He'd been throwing small pebbles around the coast, not daring to use the same one after seeing the dog slobber all over the first one.

"You must let Max out a lot, Eric," The silver-haired teen observed, "He surely does love the beach."

"It's what the kingdom is known for," Eric responded, "Some say it's because there's a kingdom at the bottom of the sea, home to King Triton, ruler of the merpeople."

"Isn't that myth?" Riku asked, puzzled, as he threw another pebble (and rejected the one in Max's mouth).

Eric chuckled, "I mean…when I was told the tale the other day it didn't seem mythological."

"Would be cool to see a merman though," Riku sighed, "That'd be something…"

"Yeah…" Eric turned to the direction in which the pebble had been thrown, to see where his dog was, but could not see Max in sight, "Max?" he whistled, but his only response from the dog was barks in the distance.

"Come on, then!" Riku said as he started running in the sound's direction. The barks were getting louder as the two princes ran, and more frequent at that.

What they saw him barking at was extraordinary.

Before their eyes were a young man with spiky brown hair and a young woman with vibrant red hair, both sporting blue eyes that shined like the ocean's waters. What they were wearing was…mildly concerning, at the very least, for their clothes seemed to be rather make-shifted, as if they had come in from a terrible storm, which was unlikely, as Eric knew perfectly well that there hadn't been anything of the sort since the one he got tangled up in. The one with…

"Are you alright?" Eric asked sincerely, as he beckoned for the dog to come towards him, since he'd made them cower behind a rock, "He's harmless, really, but he can be a bit…" He found himself looking directly in the woman's eyes, dazed for but a few moments, "Uh…"

"Your clothes…" Riku pointed to the aforementioned 'garments', "Have you come from afar?"

He was met with silent nods, as well as the brunette's eyes interlocking with his own, almost coyly.

"Well, we can't allow for this, can we Eric?" Riku elbowed his friend lightly.

"What?" Eric asked, finally paying attention, as the redhead and brunet gave the silver-haired prince wide eyes, that screamed confusion. Eric cleared his throat, "Oh, er, that's right! We've got to get you to the castle and cleaned up! Say, what're your names?"

The redhead looked as if she was going to give an answer, but suddenly shied away and tapped her throat, shaking her head.

She couldn't talk. Oh.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked softly. Perhaps he had been a bit too harsh on the maiden, "Can't you talk."

He was met with sad eyes.

"Oh…" He sighed to himself, "You can't be the one…"

"What about you?" Riku gestured to the brunet kindly, "What's your name, and if you know, what's her name?"

The brunet shook his head.

"You can't talk either?"

He shook his head again.

"All right, then. We best get you to the castle. Hopefully, we'll be able to help you guys out."

The silent acquaintances were about to get off the rock, when the redhead began to topple over, almost falling. The brunet also fell in response. Had they not been saved by Eric and Riku respectively, they would have been goners.

"Whoa, now!" Eric exclaimed as the redhead gathered herself in his arms. She wrapped one of her own around his neck quickly to regain balance, which led to the two to be within close eye contact. Oh, her eyes are beautiful, Eric thought, losing himself in her wondrous gaze…

"Can't have you falling over!" Riku said to the brunet in particular as he wrapped an arm around his waist, "Let me help you." The brunet shivered slightly as the touch, but warmed himself up to it quickly, tilting his head to rest on the silver-haired prince's shoulder.

"Guess you guys must be tired," Eric noted, "Hey, we'll help you get there…"

And with that, the four made their way to the castle.

* * *

Well, that was successful.

"Yes!" Ventus cheered, hugging Flounder, "That went great!"

"See how they looked at their outfits?" Scuttle asked, almost smugly, "You're welcome!"

"Yes, yes…" Sebastian huffed, "But now we've got to make sure they'll get them to fall in love with 'em! How are we gonna do that?"

"Well…" Roxas pondered, as a smirk began to dominate his face, "There is one of us who's able to walk on the surface…"

"And who is…"

Sebastian looked down. He was on the coast; from when he was help Scuttle make the outfits.

"Oh, no, I'm not-"

"C'mon Sebastian!" Ventus pleaded, "We promise you won't be alone! Scuttle can monitor everything from up above and Roxas, Flounder and I can find a way to get closer to the castle! All you have to do is keep everything under control inside! Pleeeeeease?"

Sebastian looked up at the twins, then and Flounder, and lastly at Scuttle.

There was no other way…

"All right, I'll do it…" As everyone else cheered him, he made his way to the castle, huffing, "I swear, when dese days are up, mon, I'm retirin'!"

* * *

"Washed up from a shipwreck…" Eric's maid, Carlotta, sighed as she tended to Ariel, who was occupied in the bath playing with bubbles. Sora was beside her in the rather large tub, giggling to one another as the two played with the water.

"Don't worry, dears," Carlotta went on, "We'll do our best to take care of you both," She went over to a nearby counter and picked up what she presumed to be a dress and hastily-made pair of trousers, "I'll just send these to wash. I'll be back shortly to tend to you getting out."

With that, the maid left the room, closing the door behind her. The only noise present was the sound of the drought coming from the nearby window. Otherwise, they were in blissful silence.

Suddenly, they began to hear a small pitter-patter of legs.

Crab legs.

Both newly humans turned to the window to find a flash of red, which had fallen from the window. It screamed in agony as it approached them. They instantly recognised it to be Sebastian.

"Ey…" the crab winced, "I've been' lookin' everywhere for you two!"

Sora giggled, as if to apologize. Ariel nodded her head as well.

"Anyways, we best be thinkin' of how you two are gonna impress the prince!" Sebastian made his way onto the edge of the tub, arms crossed. Both humans were watching him attentively, "Right well, I believe that if we could-"

He stopped as soon as the three heard the door open, diving in the water to take cover. Carlotta walked back in the room with a towel in hand, joined by a young man with brown hair, similarly holding a towel.

"Right, dearies," She came closer to Sora and Ariel, the young man following her, "Time to get out. I'll be tending to you, young lady, getting you ready for dinner this evening. And for you, young man, Leon here will be seeing to you." She turned to the young man beside her and chuckled lightly, "Ooh, put him in something dashing, would you, Leon? I've noticed how that Prince Riku has his eye on him."

"Of course, Carlotta," Leon smiled, slightly peering at Sora, who blushed slightly.

"What the-" After the two had gotten out of the tub, Carlotta had noticed something…but what could it have…

Sebastian!

The maid went over to grab a piece of cloth and covered him with it, "Oh my! I best take this to Louie! It must have escaped!"

She tucked it under her arms as she escorted Ariel out. The redhead wanted to object, as did Sora, but Carlotta and Leon seemed far more determined to get right into dressing them for the evening.

They'd just have to find a golden opportunity to rescue him.

* * *

Eric paced back and forth in front of a family portrait in the dining room, while Riku leaned against the wall nearby. The former was wearing a black jacket with dark grey trousers and flashes of red and brown while his friend preferred a grey suit. They had been ready for quite some time, and now they were waiting for their guests to arrive. Grimsby was also with them, seeing to the cutlery, laying out several pieces for himself, the princes and the visitors.

"Eric, let's be serious," The confident scoffed, "Young ladies don't just pop by to save you from drowning then flutter away as if nothing happened! Surely you can't-"

Eric leaned on a glass panel, his back to the other two, "I'm telling you, she IS real!" he countered, staring off at the ocean, "And when I find her, you can be sure that I will marry her."

"Now, Eric, really, what's wrong with the maiden you found today?"

The prince sighed, "She's not-"

Riku slipped into the conversation, "Well, you might be unsure about her, but what about her friend, eh?"

"Yes," Grimsby examined one of the glasses on the table, wiping it with a clean piece of cloth, "We've all noticed your opinion on him…"

"Says so on your face." Eric smirked, briefly distracted from his own love-life, watching his best friend blush furiously.

"Come on, now." Carlotta's voice from outside the room was heard, "Don't be shy!"

The redhead was first to walk in. She was wearing a beautiful green dress consisting of different shades, as well as purple shell-shaped earrings and a pearl necklace. The brunet stepped in after her, wearing a crimson suit.

"You look absolutely stunning…" Riku was the first to speak, walking over to the shy brunet, taking his hands in his and walking him over to the table. From where he was standing, he gestured for Eric to do the same.

!And you are beautiful…" The raven-haired prince complimented, walking his companion over to her seat, "That dress really brings out your eyes."

The redhead silently giggled, looking absolutely pleased with herself.

And she had every right to be.

"You two must be quite hungry after your little misadventure." Grimsby noted, as Carlotta stood by him. He looked between the two visitors and smiled, "It's not every day we have visitors, is it Eric?"

"Huh?" Eric looked away from the redhead and focused his attention back to the current situation. Grimsby merely shrugged him off, seeing that he was enjoying himself as is…

* * *

Hey! A dinglehopper!

Ariel saw quite a few dinglehoppers in front of her at the table, all varying in size. She found herself picking the biggest one, and with a wide, child-like smile on her face, she put it through her hair, stroking her already-soft hair playfully.

She stopped in her tracks once she saw Eric's reaction opposite her. He seemed…bewildered, to say the least at her actions. Likewise, Riku and Grimsby were equally shocked. She was quick to place the fork down on the table, exchanging a quick nervous glance with Sora next to her.

"Did you just…?" Riku stammered, "With a fork…?"

Ariel looked at Sora, puzzled.

A fork?

She might have to talk to Scuttle whenever she got the chance.

Breaking the tension she felt, she brightened at the sight of a snarfblatt, which Grimsby was…um…he was putting fire in it…? She did not quite understand what he was doing.

"Do you like it?" Grimsby asked her, as she took it from him, "It's quite-"

She immediately blew into it and, unexpectedly, blows some black substance in his face. From the top of her mind, that's probably something to do with the fire. But it was rather odd that it didn't play music. Perhaps Scuttle was also wrong about that.

Sora, Riku and Eric started laughing, while Carlotta muttered an "Oh my."

"Oh, Eric!" The maid began, taking notice of the prince, "That's the first time I've seen a genuine smile from you in ages!"

"Yes…yes…" Grimsby said sourly, "Have a pipe blown in your face can be rather amusing." Quick to wipe himself off with a cloth, she looked over to Carlotta, "Carlotta, dear, what might we be having for dinner?"

"Stuffed crab!" The maid replied gleefully, "Louie's specialty!" And with that, she was off, presumably to get the food.

Stuffed Crab?!

They DID eat sea creatures here! But that must also mean that…?

Sebastian! Oh dear…

Ariel looked over at Sora, her eyes widened with panic. He also looked at her in a similar manner.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked.

"Do you not like seafood?" Riku also asked, sipping some of his wine.

Ariel and Sora shuffled in their seats, unsure of how to voice their opinion.

"Sorry for the delay!" Carlotta huffed, a little out of breath. As she approached the table, Sora noticed that a few strands of hairs were hanging loose, and her apron slightly unkempt, "Louie's made a mess of the kitchen preparing the food, apparently."

Grimsby, unfazed, laughed, "He's been working hard on the dish, no?"

While Eric and Riku seemed absorbed in a conversation with Grimsby and Carlotta on the castle, Sora and Ariel noticed Grimsby's plate cover lifting itself slowly. It slowly revealed itself to be Sebastian holding the cover up, somewhat surviving in the kitchen. Ariel beckoned for the crab to quickly come to her plate, slightly creaking hers open. He was quick to accept her offer, and scuttled over to her plate without a second thought.

"…a tour of the kingdom, perhaps?" Grimsby tailed off, at least, from what two could make out from having just started to pay attention.

"What do ya say?" Eric asked Ariel, who slammed her cover down, playing it cool with her arm firmly holding it down, "Would you like to tour the kingdom with me tomorrow?"

Ariel nodded her head vigorously. This could just be it!

Riku cleared his throat and looked over at Sora, "And would it be alright if-" But Sora was already agreeing to it, his head nodding violently in excitement.

"Then that settles it!" Grimsby declared, "I'll have Carlotta and Leon sort out some peasant-wear for your tour, just so you don't stick out from the crowd too much. We can't have that can we?" Not knowing how else to take that, the two just nodded and smiled. "Now let's get into this food, before the crab walks off my plate."

Oh, Grimsby…

* * *

Wearing a simple, pink nightdress later that night, Ariel watched Prince Eric as he played with Max. She could say that the first night went rather well. He had certainly given her long periods of time in which they had direct eye contact, and while he may have initially been weirded out by her using a _fork_ to brush her hair, he'd warmed to her immediately after.

It also helped that she got soot in his confidant's face.

Ariel sighed. She had only two days from now to get him to fall in love with her and kiss her, and in a sense, Ursula was right; she didn't exactly need a voice to have an impact on him. From the distance, he caught her gazing at him, which he responded to with a friendly wave. The former mermaid stepped back coyly into her sleeping quarters, but not before giving him an awkward yet meaningful wave.

"De things I do for you, Ariel…" Sebastian muttered, as he took out a piece of lettuce from his shell. Ariel had been successful in sneaking him out of the dining room without much commotion, but for now her attention was focused on her reflection in the vanity, as she quietly brushed her hair with a brush (which she knew would have been the reasonable object for such a task).

"Now, we've got to get de prince to fall in love with you on your trip tomorrow…" Sebastian continued, as Ariel jumped into the bed, nearly sinking into the mattress, "We should also look into helping Sora. Now I suggest that if we bat our eyes like this-" he batted his eyes, "And puckered our lips-" he puckered his lips, "Then there's no doubt that he'd-"

He looked over to Ariel, who was enjoying a peaceful slumber. The crab sighed softly as he blew out the candle and rested next to her.

"You are hopeless, sometimes…" Sebastian commented before sleep overtook him as well.

* * *

In another part of the castle, Leon was guiding Sora, accompanied with Riku, to his bedroom. The castle seemed far bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, but then again Sora had never actually seen much of the castle's exterior back when he was a merman.

"Here we are," Leon gestured to the door, "Your room, young sir."

"It's right near my guest room!" Riku pointed out, unknowing of Leon's smirk, which suggested it was intentional, "So, hey, if you need anything, you know where to find me!" he pointed over to a door on the right, before turning back to Leon, "Thank you, Leon. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to see to him now."

"Of course," Leon only complied with the prince's orders, making his way to the servant's quarters.

Riku led Sora through the latter's bedroom door, and watched as he plopped himself on the bed.

"Right, well," Riku began, walking over to the vanity opposite Sora, looking around for something. He turned back to Sora holding a brush, "Now, I don't know if you know, but since your friend tried using a fork to comb her hair at dinner I might as well remind you," he sat quite close to Sora on the bed, "This is a brush. This is the proper tool used on hair."

Sora giggled. Of course he knew that, he wasn't an idiot.

But it was refreshing to hear it come from this human's mouth…

"May I…?" Riku asked, raising the hand with the brush in. He leaned forward, the hand coming in contact with Sora's hair (the former merman had managed to get Leon to keep it spiky for the evening).

Sora's eyes shut as he felt soft strokes of the brush on his hair. Time passed, and who knew how long it had been until Riku stopped. From the glances Sora made, it seemed like Riku was also getting lost in the moment, continuously stroking that particular spot.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry…" Riku stammered, retracting his hand. "I got a little carried away…I just…I really like your hair, it's…different."

Sora shied away at the compliment, and the two sat in silence for a while. Riku then got up and made his way out the room.

"Anyway, have a good night. I'm looking forward to our outing tomorrow."

Sora heard the door shut quietly behind the prince, and stood up, making his way to the balcony.

He had a wonderful ocean view. It almost made him homesick. He'd never been away from home, or family, for such a long time, or even so far away from them.

The former merman could also make out a few figures in the distance – Roxas and Ventus were looking on at the palace. In hopes of capturing their attention, Sora waved in their direction, and was pleased to having been waved back at by one of the twins (it was hard to distinguish them from such a long distance).

Sora leaped back on the bed and leaned back, allowing for sleep to overtake him.

Things might just go great tomorrow.


	8. Day Two

_What have I done?!_

King Triton was slumped on his throne, trident firmly in hand as Aqua and Cloud stationed themselves close to him. It had been quite a long while since Ariel had been seen by anyone in the kingdom, and if that wasn't bas enough, Sora, Ventus, Roxas and even Sebastian hadn't been seen either.

"Where've they gone?" Triton groaned, dropping his face into his hands.

Aqua spoke up, "Surely they wouldn't have…run away…you think?"

Cloud gulped, and Triton grunted in sadness. Then, a seahorse – the messenger – came by, swimming up to the King. Triton raised himself and gathered himself as the seahorse cleared his throat.

"We're sorry, Your Highness," he said solemnly, "We've looked all night, but Ariel and the others are nowhere to be found."

"Well, keep looking," Triton ordered weakly, "Leave no part of the ocean unexplored!"

"Yes, Your Highness." The seashores hurried off to find the King's guard, allowing the King to slump back to how he was before.

_Oh, what have I done…?_

* * *

What a beautiful day…

Sora had woken up to the sun beaming through his window. He went over to the balcony to find Ventus and Roxas sleeping, but hidden from everyone else's view, just to be safe. It was nice to know that they were here for them.

He rested his elbows on the balcony, taking in the wondrous sight of the coast before him. It possibly looked better in the daytime than it did at night.

"Good morning!"

_Holy crap!_

Petrified, Sora turned around to find Riku sitting on the end of his bed, wearing similar sleepwear to Sora. He must have gotten in quietly, Sora thought, as he calmed down and smiled at the prince.

"Sorry," Riku got up, and put a hand up to Sora's cheek, "I didn't mean to scare you," He ruffled his hair as he continued, "I just had to see you before getting ready for your tour of the kingdom today."

Sora giggled bashfully. How sweet of him to come by!

The two stood there, just looking at each other, and Riku's hand still on Sora's cheek, though it did eventually make its way down to his chin.

_He's teasing me._

"Riku!" a voice outside called from outside the room. It was Leon. "Riku?"

"In here, Leon," Riku's hand slipped away slowly as he turned to the door, through which Leon came in.

"I'm here to help you get dressed," Leon explained, "Didn't think you'd be with our new visitor."

"Well, let's get ready then!" Riku smiled as he left the room. But, before he did, he turned to Sora, "Hey, I look forward to seeing you later!"

Sora blushed, turning away slightly.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll be back to help you out just after I finish tending to Riku," Leon notified.

* * *

A while later, Ariel and Sora were escorted into a carriage, as Eric took the reigns of the horses pulling it with Riku next to him.

"Anything you plan on doing?" Riku asked as they started moving.

"Well, she seems like she's fascinated by everything around her," Eric began, "Her being in a village alone will probably excite her."

"He's a bit like that too," Riku observed, "I love his enthusiasm,"

"How about some dancing?" Eric suggested, "I know of a festival going on in the village, so there'll be lots for them to see there!"

"Great idea!"

Conveniently, Roxas, Ventus and Flounder had managed to find their way to get even closer to the castle, finding a moat with a bridge on which a carriage passed.

"Any kissing?" Roxas called out after seeing Sebastian, who had somehow snuck on the carriage.

"Not yet!" The crab yelled back as the carriage went off.

"Oh…" Flounder sighed, "They need to hurry it up."

"All in good time…" Ventus mused, "They're got the whole day to further convince them. Love takes its time to come about, you know?"

"Oh, I certainly do know, blondie!"

The twins and Flounder turned around to see Axel and Terra, both eyeing them (well, the twins, at least) creepily.

"What do you want?" Roxas sneered as Axel came close.

"What makes you think we're here to get something?" Axel asked, in a fake innocent tone, "Ariel and Sora still have time, and we won't mess with their deal."

"I wish we could believe you…" Ventus huffed.

"Oh, but you should, babe," Terra insisted, "We're honest gentlemen, really."

Ven scoffed, "Do not call me babe!"

"Oh, you liked it…" Terra smirked as he leaned in, taking notice of the warmth emitting from the blond's red face, "Says so on your face…"

"Gah!" Ventus exclaimed as he pushed away from the brunet, wrapping his arms around his chest, "T-that could mean anything…"

"Sure it could…" Axel said sarcastically, leaning in to Roxas' face, only to get slapped.

"Leave us alone," Roxas ordered coldly, to which both the mermen backed off the twins.

"So be it," Axel smirked, "But we'll be back."

As they swam back to Ursula, Flounder spoke up, "Hey, do you think they like you two?"

"It's creepy…" Ventus commented.

"I'll say…" Roxas agreed.

* * *

She was in paradise.

All of these wonderful things around her! Bright colors, strange but delicious food, and nice and friendly people to top it all off! It was like they'd ended up somewhere else entirely!

"Like what you see?" Eric asked her.

Teeth showing, she gave a wide smile as she twirled around in her blue peasant dress. Sora was talking to Riku, similarly nodding at the silver-haired prince.

"Why don't we go have some fun, then?" The raven-haired prince asked all three of his companions as he walked over to a stall.

Ariel looked at it closely. There were two things moving around that looked like people, one hitting the other with a club. Excited, she took a hold of the one holding the club, Sora taking the other one with glee. They were surprised to find them not moving anymore, but looking back at the box they saw two revealed hands, possibly being responsible for them moving in the first place.

"Hey!" Cried a voice in the stall, "My puppets!"

"Sorry!" Riku took the 'puppets' off of them and put them back on the man's hands.

Eric turned to them, "This is a puppet show. More specifically, this is Punch And Judy."

Sora and Ariel looked at him understandingly, taking in the new knowledge before looking over at a corner in which people were dancing. That looked like fun! Instantly, the two grabbed their respective prince's hand and dragged them over to the area.

"Y-you wanna dance?" Riku asked Sora, "I have to say, er, it's been a while since I've danced…"

"I bet we can dance better…" Eric dared his friend, as he got ready to dance.

"You're on!"

The four danced to the sounds of cheers and violins playing music nearby for them to dance to. Both newly-humans found it rather hard at first to keep in time, or at least follow through with what Eric and Riku were doing, but eventually they managed to get the hang of it and danced with ease for a good hour or so.

* * *

Later that evening, once everyone had returned to the castle, the two princes had decided to take Ariel and Sora out on a boat ride on the lagoon nearby. Happy to comply, they saw it as a chance to get them to kiss them, and so made their way happily to their boats, each one accompanied by their respective prince, who rowed the boat for them. Their boats were still close to one another as they rowed.

Scuttle, Flounder, Sebastian and the twins were watching everything behind a rock in the lagoon, having found a way in with the crab's guidance.

"Scuttle!" Flounder cried, trying to see past the bird's feather's by hopping upward, "Move! I can't-" Ventus took ahold of the fish gently and positioned him upward, "Thanks."

Roxas slumped over the rocks, "Are they actually gonna do something?"

"They've been talking about little things for a while now!" Ventus whined, "We've gotta do something!"

"Nonono!" Sebastian waved a claw at him, hissing, "And lower your voice! Those princes may hear us!"

"What they need is a little music!" Scuttle declared, as he flapped his wings, "Observe." And with that he perched himself on a tree branch above the boats and started singing.

The singing was…off-key…to say the least.

"Gee," Riku chuckled, "Wish I brought a shot gun…"

Eric nodded, "Someone should put it out of its misery soon, though."

Ariel and Sora exchanged nervous glances, with a hint of humiliation. Why would Scuttle start singing?

From where he was perched on the rock, Sebastian huffed, "Looks like I'll have to deal with things myself…" He jumped into the water and swam over to another part of the lagoon, seemingly conducting a few ducks as he began singing a calypso ballad, as Sebastian would be accustomed to doing.

"Looks like it's working…" Roxas noted a few seconds into the song, as the humans went into a more romantic part of the lagoon.

"Hey."

Roxas turned around to see Axel before him, and yet he was on his own, "What do you want?"

The redhead smirked, "Oh, just to see you again."

"And where's Terra?" Ventus asked.

"Oh, he didn't want to come," Axel explained before smirking to himself, "But I'll let him know that you expressed concern for his lack of attendance."

"Well, you got an eyeful of me, so you can leave us alone now." Roxas started swimming after the two boats in order to get a better view, with Ventus and Flounder joining him, but did not think Axel would follow him.

"Whoa, whoa, feisty-boy…" Axel cooed, "Can't you talk to me?"

"No, I don't want to." Roxas huffed, "You're here to ruin Ariel and Sora of their moment. I know it…"

"What?" Axel asked innocently, shrugging coolly, "Come on, why would I do that?" He glanced over to the two boats, a smile forming on his lips, "I honestly think they're kind of cute couples, now that I've seen 'em."

Roxas relaxed slightly, "Wait…so you only came here to see me?"

"Just like last time, yeah."

"Well, that time was still creepy, because you had your hands all over me," Roxas shivered at the memory, "So thank you for not being a creep."

"Yet." Axel smirked.

"Shut up," The blond punched the redhead in the arm lightly.

"Uh, Rox?" Ventus chimed in, "Look!"

To their surprise, the song was drawing to a close, and both Eric and Riku were leaning in quite close to Ariel and Sora respectively, their lips lingering only a few millimeters away from theirs. This could just be it! The spell would be broken! They'd be safe! They'd be-

Oh, no!

Much to everyone's dismay, both boats had somehow tipped over, sending all four humans into the water. That therefore meant that they had not kissed, and so there was still one more day.

And it had been just so perfect…

"Crap!" Ventus hissed under his breath.

While Eric and Riku were helping Sora and Ariel get to the castle, Axel noticed two eels by the boats, slapping each other's tails together, as if in victory.

"Damn!" he cursed, under his breath so that those eels wouldn't hear.

Roxas looked up, "What?"

"Flotsam and Jetsam," he explained, pointing to the eels, "They're Ursula's eels, remember? Yeah, she must've sent them to ruin the moment."

"I knew you were here to ruin the moment!" Roxas snapped, but making sure to keep his voice down, "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"OK, Roxy, look," Axel shrugged, "Yes, I work for Ursula, but her eels were not with me when I-"

"Likely story," Roxas interrupted him, "Just leave, now, and I won't say anything."

The redhead looked at him with sad green eyes, but shut them as we went back, "Fine…" he muttered, sounding a little hurt, "I'll go…"

Ventus watched the scene with a pang of guilt. There was no way he was feeling bad for Ursula's lackey, now, was he? No, surely he was in the…but, then, if the eels were with Axel, wouldn't they both be together and not separate.

That thought process would have to wait. Roxas was angry and therefore needed to be calmed down.

Everything would turn out fine tomorrow, for sure. It just had to!

* * *

Things were going way better for them than she expected. Curses!

"That was a close one!" Ursula cried as she looked at a bubble at her cauldron, projecting an image formed by her eel henchman, "Too close! And where is Axel?" She barked her question over to Terra, who was sitting at the vanity, looking bored.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "Probably just taking a break."

The sea witch huffed as she went over to her numerous bottles with different spells, "Well, I need to do something before tomorrow! The two will have their kisses before sunset for sure!" She dragged out a bottle with an animal from the surface world, one she remembered being called a 'butterfly', and one she found most beautiful.

Terra got up and got closer to the cauldron as Ursula threw the bottle in, "What do you plan on doing?"

"Here," Ursula conjured up a small shell locket similar to her own and put it on Terra.

The merman looked at the accessory with uncertainty, "What's this for-"

"You're going to help me by being that prince's new groom-to-be! I'll take care of the mermaid's prince!"

"What?" Terra cried as he made an effort to take off the necklace, "But I don't want-"

Ursula sighed. He was not going to do anything unless he had to.

Unless…

Remembering a bottle in the back of her cabinet, Ursula took it out and forced Terra to drink some of the contents. She grinned once the merman was far more silenced. He had not been knocked out, but rather he was less vocal with his objections, and well as slowed down a little bit.

Going back to the butterfly potion, Ursula watched it impatiently, "Triton's daughter will be mine! And after that, I'll make him writhe!"

Once she saw the potion was done, she cackled as she held onto her necklace. Ursula's voice became for feminine, her body slimming down (and of course, with human legs) and her hair becoming a youthful shade light brown. Her facial feature softened to appear more girly and feminine. She was now Vanessa (a name she gave this form, and felt rather suited her).

She glanced over to Terra, who had similarly transformed like her, but he had become a raven-haired human with a more boyish face.

She would call him Zack. Seemed like a nice name for someone like him.

She's gotta be somewhere. He just had to keep trying.

* * *

It was late at night, and Eric had escaped to the outer barbarican, staring off at the ocean as he playing that mesmerizing tune on his flute. He couldn't just give up on this girl. She had distinctly sung to him. He knew the tune. She was therefore real, regardless of what Riku and his castle staff said to him.

"Hey, buddy," Riku greeted as he made his way outside, "Are you still on this 'mystery girl' business?"

"Yes." Eric sighed, as he continued playing on his flute.

"Come now, Eric," Riku put his hand on his friend's arm, moving it downward, "Why fuss about this girl, who may not even be around anymore, when you could just go with the girl that cares about you. You know, the one you seem quite interested in…?" He looked over to her window, and Eric followed his glance and did the same.

She was brushing her hair with a brush, and the raven-haired prince chuckled as he remembered when she had used a fork at the dinner table that first evening she was here. He remembered her adorable face, especially when it lit up upon arriving at the village. He felt warm as fond memories of him dancing with her and nearly kissing her flooded his mind at an instant.

Riku was right. Eric was better off with _her._

He looked at his flute and sighed. Proudly, he threw it as far as he could into the ocean, and Riku only watched him, feeling good for his friend.

"You know what, I might just marry her tomorrow!" Eric proclaimed, "I may never find a girl like her again."

"That's the spirit!" Riku cheered, "And hey, if you're serious about that wedding, can I join as well?"

"Why, are you planning on marrying her friend?"

His silver-haired friend shied away, "Maybe…" he blushed.

"Well of course, then!"

"So think about it!" Riku grinned, "Tomorrow we'll be…"

He silenced himself after hearing a familiar tune faintly in the background. Both men glanced over in the direction of the coast as two figures made their way along. As the figures became more visible to the princes, it was clear to see that the female figure was the one singing, followed in closely by the male singer.

* * *

What the two didn't know was that her voice was an enchantment. As the woman's voice got closer, the locket on her neck glowed, and so did the boy's. From them, a faint mist formed and made its way to each of the human princes, overtaking them as their eyes became a more eerie shade of green.


	9. Day Three

It was the last day, but she had nothing to worry about!

Ariel woke up with a spring in her step. While one could say last night has been a bit of a disaster, another could also point out that the two _almost_ kissed! He was in love in her after all! She finally did it! All she had to do now was kiss him before the sun set and she was a permanent human!

“Congratulations, kiddo!” Scuttle was at her window, intruding and shaking her hand. While the former mermaid was overjoyed at the results so far, she still felt groggy – human daylight was a nightmare when it came right into the room. Nonetheless, the chipper seagull continued, “I heard the news just this mornin’!”

Sebastian, on the bed, looked up, his eyes blinking in confusion “What are ya babblin’ on about, mon?”

“As if you didn’t know!” Scuttle scoffed, but in a kind way, “The prince has announced he’s gonna get hitched this afternoon – y’know, get married! Apparently both princes have their minds set on gettin’ hitched!” The seagull went back to Ariel hand, shaking it, “Congrats, kid! I knew you could do it!”

Ariel’s face brightened like the light that blinded her just a few minutes ago. She couldn’t believe it! Eric was going to marry her! And Riku was going to have Sora as his husband, too! They were both going to be all right!

The former mermaid rushed out of the room, paying little attention to the fact that she was still in her nightgown. Remembering the steps before her, she descended down them with grace, which she had easily picked up two days ago from when she had walked down them for dinner that evening.

She was surprised to see Sora, still in his nightwear, looking down from the balcony at something on a lower floor, looking a little sullen and shocked.

Ariel put her arm around him, as if to ask what’s wrong. Her friend responded by looking down at pointing over to five figures. She recognised Grimsby, Eric and Riku, but…

Who were the other two?

From the backs of them, there was also a woman with brown hair wearing a simple purple dress standing next to Eric, her head leaning into his shoulder. Riku was accompanied by a noiret, wearing simple blue clothing, the trousers darker than his shirt. His arm was wrapped around Riku’s waist, and Riku’s arm was in a similar position was his waist.

Curiously, she listened in, doing her best to not be seen.

“Well it seems as if your mystery girl does indeed exist, Eric!” Grimsby had exclaimed, sounding humorous as he let out a chuckle. He reached gently for the woman’s hand and kisses it, “And congratulations, my dear. You are certainly a stunning woman with such a wonderful voice.”

“We wish to be married as soon as possible.” Eric informed, almost lacking any tone.

Grimsby’s face looked confused, “Well, Eric, you see, the festivities will take quite a while to prepare…are you sure you can’t wait a few days?”

“Tonight.” Eric ordered, though without any aggressive tone in his voice, “The wedding ship. It departs at sunset.”

Grimsby smiled at the prince, happily taking in the information. He then turned to Riku, looking concerned, “And Prince Riku, while you’re parents aren’t here, I am assuming you also wish to be married to this gentleman.”

“That is correct, yes.” Riku confirmed, in a tone similar to Eric’s (essentially a lack of one, thereof).

“But who is this gentleman?” The confident asked, “I don’t recognise him as being a part of any kingdom, and what about that fine young man-”

“He’s not important.” Riku interrupted, “And this is Zack. He comes from a neighboring kingdom.”

“Very well, you two.” Grimsby turned to leave, “I’ll see to the preparations.”

Sora looked as if he were about to cry, and Ariel’s chest started to ache, her heart full of hurt. How could they do this? They loved them but only last night! Heck, Sebastian managed to sneak in their names into the song, so now they knew perfectly knew their names! But why…?

Taking ahold of Sora for comfort, Ariel guided them out quickly and quietly, to her bedroom, where they broke down over her bed, letting the tears flow through the sheets.

A while later, the two had ceased their crying, but stayed with one another in Ariel’s room for what felt like a good hour or so.

“Hello?” a soft voice called to them. It was Carlotta, “Dear? It’s just me, Carlotta. I’m here to get you ready for this evening.” She walked in, Leon accompanying her, and Ariel made no effort to object, “Prince Eric is getting…”

“There you are, young man!” Leon said to Sora, his voice full of concern, “We’ve been looking for you since we couldn’t find you in your bedroom.” He put a hand to the boy’s shoulders and escorted him out, “Come, I shall get you dressed for the day.”

Ariel watched as Sora left the room, and allowed for Carlotta to get her ready.

* * *

 The wedding ship had just departed, but Ariel and Sora were still at the docks. They had managed to escape the crowd and retreated a more tranquil part of the docks, where they were accompanied by Sebastian, Flounder and the twins. The four watched as the two humans curled up and sobbed in their arms.

“So…the princes…” Roxas stammered, “They…?”

“Yes.” Sebastian nodded, quietly to avoid agitating Sora or Ariel.

“And it was just going great too…” Ventus commented.

At that moment, a flash of red emerged from the water next to Roxas. The blond was close to swimming away, but stopped when he recognised the red flash to be Axel, his hair seemingly more vibrant as ever in the sunlight, yet panic was filled in his eyes.

“Guys, I’ve been looking for you all everywhere! Quick, have you seen Terra?” He asks quickly.

“No,” Ventus snapped, before his expression softened to a more curious one, “Wait…why?”

“I haven’t seen him since last night!” Axel explained, “I only came here because I thought that maybe that he would’ve followed you,” He pointed at Ventus, “Since he’s sorta gone all crazy for you.”

“No…we haven’t seen him.” Ventus said slowly.

“Did you go back to Ursula’s and ask her?” Flounder asked.

“Come to think of it…” Axel pondered, “I haven’t seen her either.”

“You don’t seemed so shocked about that…” Roxas noted.

The redheaded merman shrugged, “Eh, she’s a bit of a bitch. It’s nice to have to few minutes away from her.” He smiled when Roxas chuckled slightly, but then chuckled himself once the blond realized what he was doing and stopped himself, wrapping his arms around himself as he shied away.

“Wait…” Ventus held his hand up, as he pondered, “You don’t think…?”

Ariel and Sora raised their heads as they watch him think. Sebastian’s eyes widened.

“Well, dat’s something you’d expect her to do!” The crab explained.

“Ariel! Sora!” A voice from above called. Everyone looked up to see Scuttle descending, landing between the two former merfolk. He looked out of breath – he must have flown quite quickly, “Well I was- I was flying- well, of course I was flying- but then I saw- the witch- she- she was watchin’ the mirror- singing- singing with a stolen set of pipes!”

Ariel’s eyes widened, as did Sora’s and Axel’s, but Sebastian looked doubtful, “What’re ya sayin’ now?”

Scuttle grabbed the crab in a flurry, pulling him in close to his face, making direct eye contact, “Do you hear what I’m telling you?” he cried, “The prince is marryin’ the sea witch!”

Ariel rose. Oh, Ursula was trying to deliberately make sure she failed!

“Wait, what about Riku?” Roxas asked.

“He must be marrying Terra!” Axel explained to him, “But…why? Terra likes Ven, so why would he…” His eyes widened with realization, “Oh, crap…”

“What?” Ventus grabbed his shoulders, looking at him directly with concern, “What’s happened?”

“Ursula must’ve given Terra some of that potion she keeps talking about!”

“What potion?” Roxas asked.

Axel brushed him off, and went over to Sora, “Some prototype sleeping potion – all it does it halt the consumer’s thoughts, but now’s not the time to explain!” He held his arms out to Sora, “Quick, grab on! We need to get to that ship!”

Sora leaped on the redhead, repositioning himself so he was on Axel’s back, his hands interlocked around his neck.

Sebastian looked around, and made his way over to a stack of barrels. He used his claws to cut the rope holding them all together, sending them into the ocean, where they floated. “Ariel, grab onto that!” He ordered, as he threw the rope attached to the barrel back, “Flounder! You and the twins help get her there as fast as you can!”

“What could I do?” Scuttle asked openly.

“Stall the wedding!” Was the immediate reply he got from everyone (or at least, everyone who could speak).

The seagull saluted and flew off, “I’ll go get help from the sea creatures!”

“And I’ll go get the King!” Sebastian informed them, “At dis point dere’s no hiding it!” He went off, and judging by how he went of swimmingly, noone was going to object.

* * *

 

Scuttle made sure that he did a pretty decent job at holding back Ursula and Terra from marrying Eric and Riku.

It was a few minutes til sunset, and the entire boat was a mess, the wedding cake now lying on the floor, with some parts landing on Ursula, before dolphins came by and spat in her face with sea water they had gathered up. Everyone else on the ship had retreated to hiding inside the ship, and aside from the two disguised humans, only Eric and Riku remained, although they didn’t look as if they were going to move anyway.

There was also the minister, but he was too old to take note of anything around him.

Ursula stood there completely angered, before taking notice of Scuttle. The seagull had taken note of Ariel and Sora sneaking on the ship, with Axel and the twins looking in from the edge, while everyone was distracted, and in turn occupied the sea witch’s time by grabbing at her necklace with his feet.

“Why you little-“ Ursula grabbed him by the neck and throttled him too and fro, only he did not let go of the necklace.

As everyone emerged from the inside, they witnessed the seagull push against the woman – who’d referred to herself as ‘Vanessa’ – effectively causing her to fall back, and ripping away her necklace from her neck. When it smashed, a glow emerged from the remains, and made its way over to a redheaded woman they had not recognised.

Ariel looked over to Eric, whose eyes seemed to glow green, only for that to immediately fade away once she came into his view.

“Ariel!” Eric cried in joy.

“Eric!” Ariel responded and, predictably, the prince jumped in surprise at the sound of her voice.

Sora saw the silver-haired prince and was about to make his way to him, before noticing that Zack – his ‘replacement’, so to speak – was wearing a similar necklace to Ursula. While the noiret was off-guard, Sora approached him and ripped away the necklace, before running into Riku and enveloping him in a large hug, “Riku!”

“S-Sora, wha…?” Riku stuttered, before stopping himself and turning around, properly embracing the brunet.

“You both can talk…” Eric observed, “But…”

“Oh, we tried to tell you…” Ariel sighed, “But-”

“Eric! Get away from her!” A deep voice cried to him. That voice belonged to ‘Vanessa’, who immediately stopped herself from talking and covered her mouth in horror.

“It was you then, right?” Eric realized. This was the girl he had been looking for, “The girl who saved me?”

“Yes, Eric.” Ariel hugged him again, “I did!”

“Ooh…” ‘Vanessa’ cooed, pointing at the sunset once everyone turned to her, “Do you see what I see?”

Oh no! They hadn’t kissed yet! Ariel and Sora looked at each other, eyes widened with shock and horror.

Suddenly, they began to writhe in pain, falling out of the princes’ arms. They screamed slightly as they felt their legs coming together, effectively merging into one another. Their tails were coming back, as they looked up at their princes in sadness.

“You’re a mermaid…?” Eric began, but was hastily cut off as he heard ‘Vanessa’ cackling.

Everyone looked shocked as the woman, as well as the young man that she had first been seen with, began to glow an eerie green, their clothing ripping apart. The woman went a light shade of purple, lilac even, as her hair went white and her legs dividing to become six black tentacles. The man had instead formed a merman’s tail, and lay unconscious after the transformation.

“Terra!” Ventus cried from where he was positioned, before he watched Ursula’s arms hastily snatch Sora and Ariel as she crawled towards them and off of the boat.

“Goodbye, lover-boys!” Ursula snarled wickedly to Eric and Riku, before diving off the wedding ship.

“Ariel!” Eric went over to the edge and yelled.

“Sora!” Riku also yelled.

What were they to do, now?


	10. Turning Tables

Ursula couldn’t have been more pleased with herself.

The sea witch strolled along the sands at the bottom of the ocean, Sora and Ariel wrapped up in two tentacles, Sora to her left and Ariel to her right. Despite having the limbs occupied, her remaining four did a fairly decent job, pacing at a rather regular speed, or at least it felt like that to Sora and Ariel; it might have been a bit slower for Ursula. Because they had insisted, her pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam had joined her, watching the trapped merfolk with peering eyes, similar to Axel and Terra’s, but only more creepier given they were eels eyes.

Looking at the two captured merfolk with a grin on her face, Ursula took notice of their sullen faces, coated with an expression of anger.

“Look, dearies, I do feel bad for you, I really do,” She sighed, but not indicating sadness or pity in her tone, “I’ve got my own agenda to deal with.”

Seeing the opportunity to speak, Sora spoke up, “You left Terra on that ship!”

The sea witch brushed him off, “Oh, he can find his own way back. Apparently, he’d fallen in love with a merman around these parts. Anyway, there’s more important things to worry about – I’ve got bigger fish to-”

“Ursula, STOP!”

Ursula looked up, to find King Triton standing in front of her, his trident aimed straight at her face, only inches away from it. Sebastian, Flounder and the twins were positioned nearby, but far enough to avoid the sea witch. Upon seeing the so-called “rescue party”, Ursula smirked.

“King Triton…” Her tone lowered and her face almost lit up sarcastically, “How are you?”

“Let them go!” Triton’s aim altered slightly, his trident right in her face.

Ursula gently pushed it downward, “And what will happen if I don’t?”

“Then you’ll get this!” Another voice exclaimed in anger, as Ursula felt a blast emit in her direction, sending her backwards and freeing Sora and Ariel from her grasp.

Looking up from her current position, the sea witch smirked, “Queen Aqua! My, my, still have that Keyblade, do we? And how are the Radiant Sea Gardens doing?”

“Shut up!” Aqua commanded, aiming her Keyblade at her again, only for Cloud – who had accompanied her – to stop her, “And let our children go!”

“No chance!” Ursula countered, making her contract appear before her, its golden glow brightening the grey area, “We had a deal, you see! And boy, were they eager to sign!”

“Daddy, I’m sorry!” Ariel began to apologize, “It’s just that – it’s just – I didn’t mean –“

Her apologies were stopped as another blast sent Ursula back, breaking the rock she was currently sprawled on and sending her into another. Triton looked around for his trident, only to find a redheaded merman holding it, somehow having managed to slip it out of his grasp. Everyone sighed upon realizing that while he had tried to destroy the contract, and possibly Ursula, the golden scroll still shone proudly, not a single tear made in it.

“Axel!” Roxas called to the merman, “Why did you-“

“Axel!” The sea witch echoed the name, anger finally being heard in her voice, “You traitor! I thought I could trust you!”

“You went back on your word!” Axel countered, “This isn’t what I thought was gonna happen! But that was for Terra! You took him and abused him into fooling that human into thinking that Sora wasn’t his true love!”

Ursula huffed, but nonetheless a smirk reappeared, her contract being held in a tentacle and being shown to Aqua and Triton, “See how it’s still here? The contract is legal and truly binding! It cannot even be broken by the likes of _you_!”

“Wait!” Aqua halted her, “What if we-”

“Mom!” Cloud exclaimed in shock, “No, no you couldn’t-”

“I must.” She responded, looking over to Sora, “For Sora. For all of you.” She then looked to King Triton, who got at what the blueheaded queen was thinking.

“What if we were to arrange a different kind of trade?”

Ursula laughed to herself. Right where she wanted them!

“Well…” She pondered teasingly, approaching them with her contract in hand, “I was always a girl with her eye on the bargain…so perhaps I’d be willing to offer up a trade. Of course, a prince and princess are as strong commodities as you can get, but an exchange for someone better would be fair enough.”

“Well, what do you have in mind?” Triton asked slowly, as Ursula began explaining her contract.

* * *

 

“Eric, wait! What are you doing!”

Grimsby looked on as Eric and Riku ran over to the edge of the ship, where a dinghy was located. They planned to go out to sea, and find Ariel and Sora themselves. The sea witch had already proven to be no good, and so they thought that the only way to get them out of this mess was to take troubles into their own hands.

The best place to start was to go underwater.

Quickly rowing the boat, Riku looked on at the sea, his eyes focused on a location where he had remembered the sea witch diving into, “We’re going to save them!”

“But it’s too risky!” The confident countered, “You could drown! And we’d have to send out reinforcements to find you should you-”

“I lost her one, Grim!” Eric yelled back to him, being quite a distance away from the wedding hip at this point as the waves began to get wilder, “And I won’t lose her again!” He turned back to the waters, concentrating.

Oh, where could she be?

* * *

 

“So, do we have a deal?” Ursula concluded her explanation, her contract floating in front of her.

Triton and Aqua eyed the scroll hesitantly, as their friends and children watched them in horror.

They have no other choice.

Triton raised his trident and aimed a small, golden beam for Ariel’s signature, replacing it with his own name. Similarly, Aqua raised her keyblade and shot out a concentrated beam to her son’s signature, her own masking it completely.

“Ha! It’s done then!” Ursula cackled.

And with the contract signed, Aqua and Triton were quickly entrapped within two golden circles, creating a whirlpool. Inside the whirlpools, the two began to wither, their features removed as they were reduced to nothing more than polyps. Between them, their crowns, trident and keyblade maintained their original appearances, seemingly not affected by the change of signatures – perhaps this was intentional.

“Daddy…” Ariel said to the polyp that had once been her father, Sebastian bowing his head towards the small creature in respect.

“Mother!” Cloud cried, approaching where his mother had once been. He snarled at Ursula, “You’re a monster!” In retaliation, he made a grab for his mother’s keyblade, only for it to firmly stand its ground on the ocean floor.

“Ha! I don’t fear you or that weapon now!” Ursula smirked, “Keyblades are awfully picky with their owners. Did your mother never teach you that?” She looked down at Triton’s polyp, taking the crown from its current position. Similarly, she picked up the trident – far less fussy with its owner, which is what made it more appealing, “It’s mine!”

“You…” Sora hissed in anger, before hurling himself at the sea witch, “You monster!”

Ursula was quick to react, however, and with a flick of her arm pinned him against the rock where she had previously been forced into, “Oh, quiet, you little brat!” She ordered, “Contract or no, I’ll-”

A harpoon interrupted her, gashing her arm. Ursula recoiled as she grabbed her arm in pain, blood slowly emitting from the cut.

Everyone looked up to see Eric and Riku, holding their breaths as the latter held in his left hand what they presumed was a spare harpoon.

“Eric!” Ariel cried out.

“Riku!” Sora also cried out.

“You insolent humans!” Ursula muttered angrily, before looking over to her eels, “After them!”

Seeing they were in trouble, the two humans swam as far away as they could from the commotion as they were chased by Flotsam and Jetsam, who were quick to capture them despite their efforts.

“Come on!” Ventus said to Roxas as the two swam after the eels, Sebastian accompanying them with Flounder.

Upon reaching the trapped humans, the twins made an effort to pry the eels off of them. This was to no avail, as the eels remained firmly in place, snickering at the wasted effort. Immediately getting an idea, Roxas turned around and slapped Jetsam with his fin. Sebastian made his way to Jetsam’s tail and pinched it, causing the eel to recoil and lose his grip on Eric. Immediately catching on, Flounder slapped Flotsam rapidly as the twins kept Jetsam distracted, Sebastian grabbing Flotsam’s tail and sending him the twins’ way.

“Damn, they’re pretty good!” Axel commented.

Ursula, however, was far less than impressed. She watched on in anger, but smirked upon seeing the unguarded humans, “Say goodbye to these handsome buffoons, sweeties!” She said mockingly as she aimed the trident at them.

“Ursula, NO!!” Axel yelled, making a grab for Ursula’s hair.

Fortunately, Ursula winced in pain, her aim immediately shifting towards the direction of her eels, whom had been victim to the trident’s blast, effectively killing them.

“Oh, right!” Axel cheered, as Sora, Ariel and Cloud proceeded to congratulate him.

“Sora!” Ariel beckoned her friend over as the two swam over to their princes, assisting them in getting back to the surface, as the two looked as if they were to drown in a matter of seconds.

They didn’t take note of the ink clouds forming below them.

Ursula’s grip on the trident tightened, as she released more and more ink. Everyone who was underwater watched in fear as the sea witch started to grow slowly but surely.

Oh, she was just getting started.

* * *

 

“Guys, you have to get away from here!” Sora exclaimed once the four reached the surface, latching on to Riku with Ariel similarly holding Eric.

“No way!” Riku shook his head, “There’s no chance we’re going to lose you guys!”

“Again!” Eric added, reminding himself of the situation with Ariel.

Sora huffed, and quickly got an idea, “Now I don’t know if it’ll work, but I could go back and get my mom’s-”

They were hastily separated into pairs as Ursula continued to grow out of the sea. Ariel and Eric had gone in one direction and Riku with Sora in another. Both pairs latched themselves onto the crown, seeing it as the only opportunity for survival. However, once they noticed how far they had gotten from the ocean floor, the four dived from the crown and made their way to water.

“Look out!” Eric cried, holding Ariel, as a humongous tentacle lowered in their way.

“You insignificant _fools_!” Ursula boomed, her voice far deeper than it had been due to her colossal size, “I now rule _all_ the ocean!” Trident in hand, she created a whirlpool near where Riku and Sora were located, the two cowering away to avoid harm, “The sea is now at my disposal, as everything in it bows to my power!”

“What do we do?” Eric asked his friend from the other side of the tentacle, Ariel in his arms.

Ursula noticed him, and turned to face them. Her eyes – and aim – on the mermaid, she sent a blast in her direction. Luckily, Eric has managed to swim away with the mermaid – just far enough to avoid the blast. Instead, a whirlpool formed where the blast had alternatively landed, and both of them were on the edge of it. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in avoiding the edge, instead falling inside the whirlpool, wincing in pain as they hit the bottom of the grounds, which were now devoid of seawater.

* * *

 

 “Riku!” Sora began, making sure they did not get Ursula’s attention, “She distracted! We best do something quick!”

Riku looked over at the giant sea witch, who was now seemingly aiming beams at Ariel and Eric. Given how many she was firing, they must have been successful in avoiding them.

Still, that didn’t mean they were safe forever.

“Didn’t you say you had an idea?” Riku asked.

Sora brightened in realization. He did! He planned on getting his mother’s keyblade and blasting Ursula with it. And it was also easy to locate, given they were more-or-less above where it was last located.

But…what if it didn’t respond to him?

What Ursula had said to Cloud before was right – keyblades _were_ fussy about their owners. Well, more specifically, it had to be passed down via a special ritual. Unfortunately, their mother was no longer with them, so for now, the keyblade was likely not going to be used by anyone that way.

_That_ way. There actually was another way, however. Sora had learned it in his early years. Apparently, the Radiant Sea Gardens was a kingdom most well-known for its Light, which never went out, nor did it cower to the darkness. Only one with pure light in their heart would be able to use the keyblade.

“Well, my mom’s keyblade is pretty good for this kind of thing…” Sora explained to Riku, “But there’s just a teeny little problem…”

“That it’s way below us?”

Sora huffed, “Make that TWO teeny little problems. Anyway, the keyblade has to be used by someone whose heart is full of light!”

“Light?” Riku echoed, “I don’t under- you know what? You best get the keyblade _now_!” He pointed in Ariel and Eric’s direction, “We’ve got friends to save and a sea witch to defeat! Leave the explanation later.”

Sora sighed as he went underwater and swam to the keyblade as fast as he could. Upon reaching it, Sora noticed that his brothers and everyone else were no longer nearby. They must have swam away for safety – hopefully. He hesitated slightly as he looked at it in its current position – lying on the ocean floor. Could he pick it up?

He gripped the handle of the keyblade while it was still on the ground, whispering to himself – praying to the sea gods that he could.

He could.

As he slowly lifted his hands, he realized that the keyblade followed his movement, now off of the ocean floor and in his grasp. He was almost about to cheer himself, but recoiled and made his way back to Riku once he realized that this was an important matter at hand.

“I got it!” Sora waved the weapon at his love interest upon reaching the surface, “Now I just need to be within a close range to be exactly sure I aim for her heart.”

“How on earth are we going to get close to her?!” Riku asked worriedly.

Dully, Sora pointed over to a ship nearby, which had resurfaced itself when Ursula had created the first whirlpool.

“Oh.”

* * *

 

Riku took to the ship wheel upon reaching the deck with Sora. Taking into account that Sora was not able to move independently on the surface in his current state, Riku positioned him next to the bowsprit, meaning that Sora sat over the edge, but held on to the bowsprit with his left hand to support himself and steady his body in its position.

“Do you know how to work a ship?” Sora asked.

“Well, we’re seriously lucky I do!” Riku replied, remembering his lessons with Eric from when they were younger, “Otherwise we’d be in serious trouble!”

And indeed, Riku did know how to work a ship. It moved quicker than he had hoped, but there was the odd occasion in which the ship would halt as it rode a rapid wave, threatening to send Sora and Riku flying backwards. Even so, the two were firmly planted to their grounds, and the keyblade was firmly in Sora’s grasp.

“OK, this is close enough!” Sora yelled over to Riku over the loudness of the thunderstorms forming in the sky.

“SO MUCH…FOR TRUE LOVE!” They could hear Ursula bellow with insanity, the trident now glowing a horrendous shade a red.

“Hey, Ursula!” Sora shouted, as loud as he could.

“WHAT!!!” The sea witch turned around, seeing Sora and Riku on a ship, staring back at her with anger.

“Have at this!” Sora said proudly, raising his keyblade as he aimed a concentrated beam of light at Ursula’s chest, more specifically where her heart was located.

“AHHHH!!!” The sea witch flinched, dropping the trident into the whirlpool, which now shrunk back to its original size and landed inbetween Eric and Ariel, only _just_ inches away from them.

Seeing an opportunity, Ariel gestured for the trident and took it. Aiming it carefully, and moving herself accordingly, she shot a beam at Ursula’s face, effectively blinding her. Luckily, this did not affect Sora’s aim of the keyblade.

“Riku!” Sora yelled, “Could you move me any closer? Just need to concentrate a little more on her heart!”

Riku complied, steering the ship accordingly. However, he had somewhat managed to impale Ursula’s bosom with the bowsprit upon getting perhaps closer than was necessary. Regardless, Sora was successful in concentrating the beam.

“I can’t…” Ursula began, her voice weakened, “I can’t…endure…”

Eric took the trident from Ariel swiftly and threw it in her direction, “Then allow me!”

As the trident was successfully plunged into Ursula, it went through her in the form of a golden beam, effectively putting an end to her.

Riku steered the ship back and Eric took Ariel as far away as he could as the four watched the sea witch writhe in pain, falling back into the ocean as she gradually began to fade away.

Ursula was no more.


	11. Happily Ever After

Perched on a nearby rock, Ariel and Sora looked on at their princes as they lay unconscious at the shore. It had been quite a recovery once Ursula had been defeated, as the waves still moved at the faster speed than usual, but nothing compared to the mighty forces they had once been at. The two merfolk had acknowledgement of the fact that they were being watched by Triton, Aqua, Sebastian and Cloud, all of whom did not dare to interrupt the duo.

But as Ariel and Sora looked on, they had to wonder: were Eric and Riku actually dead?

Of course, this was only a wonder – they both knew the princes had simply passed out in exhaustion upon helping out in Ursula’s demise. It was just that it had been quite a while since they had brought them to the shore, so they were just nervous, if anything.

“I guess they both loved them, huh?” Aqua asked.

“A mermaid and merman falling in love with a human?” Cloud questioned, but mostly to himself, “Who’d have thought it?”

“It’s like I always say,” Sebastian began, “Children gotta be free to lead their own lives.”

Triton turned to him with a puzzled expression, “Do you…do you always say that, Sebastian?”

The remark was met with laughter emitting from the King, Queen and prince, while the crab chuckled sheepishly.

“Well, I suppose there’s only one thing to do, isn’t there?” Aqua said to Triton, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Triton nodded, “Indeed.”

Cloud and Sebastian watched as Triton and Aqua combined the power of the trident and keyblade to send a shiny wave in the direction of Ariel and Sora. Both of their lower bodies were enclosed in a glowing cloud as their tails gave way for legs again. The two transforming individuals looked up, smiling at their parents with glee.

* * *

 

As Eric and Riku woke up, they were greeted by Ariel and Sora, both of their arms out in the open, waiting to seal them in a warm, reuniting embrace. The princes happily took them up on the gesture, Eric giving Ariel a twirl in his arms as they pressed lips. Similarly, Sora and Riku shared a longer hug, before eventually kissing one another with glee.

“Oh, Eric!” Ariel sighed happily, “I’m so happy you’re safe!”

“You too, Riku!” Sora captured his partner in another hug, “Oh, I love you so much!”

“I love you too, Sora.” Riku whispered in Sora’s ear.

“Now,” Eric began, “About that wedding…”

Riku caught on, and smiled, “Of course!” He pulled away from Sora, extending his arm to offer his hand, “Sora, will you-”

The silver-haired prince didn’t get a chance to finish, as Sora tackled him to the ground and showered him in kisses.

Ariel took a less rigorous approach, taking both of Eric’s hands in hers, looking into his eyes, and proclaiming, “Yes, Eric! I do!”

* * *

 

Triton and Aqua smiled warmly as they watched both couples bask in happiness on the beach.

“I guess there’s only one problem, now…” Aqua mused.

“And what might that be, Mom?” Cloud asked curiously.

“How much we’re going to miss them,” Triton answered for her, as he was then met with approving nods.

“TERRA!”

Looking behind them, the four turned around (as well as the four humans) to see Ventus, Roxas and Axel approaching, the former of which had been responsible for the yelling, given his hands were close to his mouth. A recent change, however, was that Roxas and Axel were now holding hands, swimming in synchronization as they helped the former’s twin brother find the latter’s friend.

“Is there something wrong, Ven?” Aqua asked, approaching her son.

“Terra. He…” Ventus sounded unstable, as if he were to cry right then and there, “I tried to find…him…but Ursula left him on…on the ship, and- I-I don’t know where he’s…” He stopped himself once the tears started leaking from his eyes.

“Come on, Ven…” Roxas assured, letting go of Axel and putting his arm around his brother’s shoulder, “Everything’s going to be alright…I promise…he’s probably alive…”

“Yeah.” Axel nodded, swimming over to comfort the blond as well, “From what I know on the top of my head, that magic of Ursula’s didn’t kill him, but as for the storm, well…” He stammered as he looked over to Cloud, who, upon hearing the uncertainty in the redhead’s tone, stared at him, “Hopefully he managed to escape…”

“Guys!” Sora’s voice cried out to them, as a wave washed up a body – a merman’s body – on the shore.

Ventus sped over to the body of unknown status. It was of a merman, yes – this merman had brown hair, a fair amount of upper body strength from the look of his back muscles and an auburn tail.

Terra!

“Terra!” Ventus cried in relief, turning the body over so he was looking at Terra’s face. The brunet’s eyes were closed. Could he be…?

“Wait!” Riku exclaimed, pointing to Terra’s chest, “I don’t see any…” He was silence by Sora, who put a hand to his chin.

“Terra…” Everyone watched as Ventus sobbed over Terra’s lifeless body, “I…I…”

He loved him.

Without thinking, Ventus lowered his head until it came in contact with Terra’s, their foreheads inches away. The blond then launched his lips into the brunet’s, grazing them before latching onto them, sealing a kiss.

Ventus then backed away from the face, and wept over Terra’s tail, the scales glistening in the sunlight as they jolted slightly.

Wait…jolted? That didn’t sound right.

“Ven…” Cloud gasped, as an arm wrapped itself around Ventus.

Ventus turned around quickly to see Terra, sitting up, and gathering him in a warm embrace. “Terra!” He exclaimed with glee, “You’re alive!”

“Of course he is!” Axel responded, “The potion Ursula used on him doesn’t kill him, nor did it kill him when Sora broke the necklace.”

“I can’t believe she just left me there to perish…” Terra noted sourly, “Why, when I get my hands on her, I’ll-”

“She’s gone.” Ariel spoke up, assuringly.

“Yeah, Terra. Ariel, Sora and these humans defeated her when she went all crazy over the trident.” Ventus continued, his arms around Terra protectively.

“Wait,” The brunet paused hesitantly, before turning to Axel, “So…are we free?”

“It seems like it, yeah.” Axel nodded, before elbowing Roxas, “Hey, look at my eyes for me.”

Roxas complied, and found that Axel’s left eye was devoid of the eerie yellow glow that had previously occupied it. Ventus immediately then looked into Terra’s eyes, finding that his right eye now matched his left eye completely; free of any darkness Ursula had placed over them.

“You mean to say that it was her dark magic that was responsible for some sort of hypnosis?” Aqua asked, confused.

“Oh, no.” Axel shook his head, “She gave us these eyes so we could spy on others for her. Now that she’s gone, that spell is broken, thank the gods.”

“Plus we knew better than to do _everything_ she wanted. I mean, we managed to find love…” Terra commented, squeezing Ventus’ hand lightly, getting a giggle in response.

“Right, well…” Eric interjected, putting his hands together, “We’ve got a wedding to plan!”

* * *

 

 It was surely a wonderful day.

A few days later, Sora and Ariel were on board the wedding ship, its repairs courtesy of their parents. Their respective husbands interlocked their arms with theirs, as they proudly walked over to the edge of the boat, ready to greet their wedding guests from under the sea.

Everyone from Atlantica and Eric’s kingdom was invited to the wedding, with the humans on board the boat and the merpeople and sea creatures surrounding it. Sebastian, however, was held by Sora, as the crab had been told by Triton to keep an eye out just in case, as well as to assist the newly-weds get prepared for this moment.

“I never knew crabs could talk, you know,” Riku chuckled, “But I’m glad I’ve been shown otherwise!”

“Dat’s right!” Sebastian smiled, before leaping over to his shoulder and playfully nudging him, “And dis is for the stuffed crab! I nearly lost my shell!”

“Oops!” Eric exclaimed, overhearing the crab as he and Ariel approached, “Sorry about that.”

Sebastian’s smile got bigger as he got ready to leap back into the ocean, “Take care of them, OK?” He asked them.

“You’ve got it.” Riku and Eric nodded.

The four newly-weds watched as Triton and Aqua rose from the ocean using their respective relics. The two parents kissed their respective children’s foreheads before hugging their appropriate son-in-law. Ariel gave her father another hug, as a tear of happiness rolled down her cheek.

“I love you, Daddy!”

The king patted her back twice more before he and Aqua back into the water, waving at the newly-weds as the ship sailed off into the distance.

And so, they lived happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And...it's done! Yay!  
> (Sorry this last chapter seems so much shorter compared to the others, but all there really was after the battle was just Ariel turning into a human and getting married full stop. Luckily, this provided the perfect opportunity for a Terra/Ven moment XD)


End file.
